The Power of the Dog (2021) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Jane Campion
Writers: Jane Campion, Thomas Savage (based on the novel by)
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

Jane Campion returns to the kind of mythic frontier landscape—pulsating with both freedom and menace—that she previously traversed in The Piano in order to plumb the masculine psyche in The Power of the Dog, set against the desolate plains of 1920s Montana and adapted by the filmmaker from Thomas Savage’s novel. After a sensitive widow (Kirsten Dunst) and her enigmatic, fiercely loving son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) move in with her gentle new husband (Jesse Plemons), a tense battle of wills plays out between them and his brutish brother (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose frightening volatility conceals a secret torment, and whose capacity for tenderness, once reawakened, may offer him redemption or spell his destruction. Campion, who won an Academy Award for her direction here, charts the repressed desire and psychic violence coursing among these characters with the mesmerizing control of a master at the height of her powers.

Extras:
- Interview with Campion about the making of the film
- Program featuring interviews with members of the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage captured on location in New Zealand
- Interview with Campion and composer Jonny Greenwood about the film’s score
- Conversation among Campion, director of photography Ari Wegner, actor Kirsten Dunst, and producer Tanya Seghatchian, moderated by filmmaker Tamara Jenkins
- New interview with novelist Annie Proulx
- Trailer