You’re sitting in a dark theater, and a man is eating a piece of liver that—honestly—looks like it was prepared with zero seasoning and a lot of spite. That’s the vibe of Kinds of Kindness. If you walked into this expecting the whimsical, Victorian steampunk energy of Poor Things, you probably walked out feeling like you’d been hit by a bus. A very stylish, very cynical bus driven by Yorgos Lanthimos.
It’s a triptych. That basically means it’s three short films shoved into one nearly three-hour marathon. Same actors. Different characters. Total tonal whiplash.
Jesse Plemons is the MVP here. He won Best Actor at Cannes for this, and it’s easy to see why. He plays a corporate sycophant, a paranoid cop, and a cult member with this sweaty, dead-eyed desperation that makes you want to look away but also check if he’s okay. Emma Stone is back too, shedding the wide-eyed innocence of Bella Baxter for something much sharper and more jagged.
The Three Stories of Kinds of Kindness
The first segment, "The Death of R.M.F.," is basically a nightmare about middle management. Plemons plays Robert, a man whose entire life—what he eats, when he has sex, which books he reads—is dictated by his boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe). It’s an extreme look at the desire to be told what to do. When Robert finally says "no" to a task that involves a literal car crash, his life falls apart.
Then we get "R.M.F. is Flying." This is the one that really tests your stomach. Plemons is a policeman whose wife (Stone) goes missing at sea. When she returns, he’s convinced she’s an impostor. Why? Because her feet are too big. It spirals into a series of "tests" of devotion that involve... well, let's just say you might never look at a kitchen knife the same way again.
The final chapter, "R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich," follows Stone and Plemons as cult members looking for a woman who can resurrect the dead. They’re obsessed with purity. No contaminated water. No outside contact. Just a lot of driving around in a purple Dodge Challenger.
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Why the Critics Are Actually Divided
Usually, when a director has a hot streak like Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things), the next movie is a victory lap. This isn't that. It’s a return to his "Greek Weird Wave" roots—think Dogtooth or The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Some critics, like Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian, praised its "lethal elegance." Others found it punishing. It’s a cold movie. It doesn't want to hold your hand or tell you everything is going to be okay. In fact, it’s pretty sure everything is going to be terrible, but it thinks the way we navigate that terror is hilarious.
The repetition of the actors is the key. By seeing Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie play completely different roles in each segment, you start to realize the movie isn't about the plots. It's about the power dynamics. It’s about how humans will do absolutely anything—mutilate themselves, kill others, give up their freedom—just to feel like they belong to someone or something.
The R.M.F. Mystery
Who is R.M.F.? He’s the guy played by Yorgos Stefanakos. He shows up in all three stories, usually getting injured or dying. He has almost no lines. He’s the connective tissue, a silent witness to the absurdity.
Some fans online have theorized he represents the audience. Others think he’s a literal manifestation of fate. Honestly? He’s probably just a dark joke. Lanthimos likes to include these recurring motifs that feel like they should mean something deep, but they might just be there to make you lean in closer.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Meaning
People keep looking for the "kindness" in Kinds of Kindness.
"Where's the heart?" they ask.
They're looking in the wrong place. The title is deeply sarcastic. The "kindness" shown in these stories is almost always conditional. It’s "I’ll be kind to you if you do exactly what I say." It’s "I love you, so cut off your finger to prove you love me back."
It’s a critique of how we weaponize affection. If you go in looking for a Hallmark moment, you’re going to have a bad time. If you go in looking for a pitch-black comedy about how weird people are, it’s a masterpiece.
Production Design and That Catchy Soundtrack
Let's talk about the piano. Jerskin Fendrix, who did the score for Poor Things, returns here. But instead of the lush, orchestral swells, we get these aggressive, stabbing piano chords. It’s unsettling.
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The cinematography by Robbie Ryan is also a bit of a shift. It’s flatter, more naturalistic than the fish-eye lens madness of his previous work. It makes the insane things happening on screen feel uncomfortably real. When Emma Stone is dancing like a maniac in a parking lot, the camera doesn't move. It just watches.
How to Prepare for Your First Viewing
- Check your expectations. This is not a "fun" movie in the traditional sense. It’s a 164-minute endurance test of awkwardness.
- Watch it with friends. You’re going to want to talk about the "liver scene" or the "sauna scene" immediately after.
- Don't overthink the logic. The world of Kinds of Kindness operates on dream logic. If you start asking "Why didn't they call the police?" you've already lost.
- Pay attention to the transitions. The way each story ends and the next begins tells you a lot about the film's cynical view of human cycles.
Actionable Steps for Cinema Lovers
If you want to actually "get" what Lanthimos is doing, don't just stop at this film. To see the evolution of these themes, watch Dogtooth first. It’s the blueprint. It deals with the same themes of control and isolation but in a much tighter, more claustrophobic setting.
Next, compare the performance of Jesse Plemons here to his work in I'm Thinking of Ending Things. He’s cornering the market on "men on the verge of a nervous breakdown," and seeing the nuances between his different types of desperation is a masterclass in acting.
Finally, read up on the "Greek Weird Wave." It’s a movement that emerged during the Greek financial crisis, and it explains why these movies are so obsessed with broken systems and strange social rituals. Understanding the context makes the "weirdness" feel a lot more purposeful and a lot less like shock value.
The movie is currently streaming on platforms like Hulu and Disney+ (depending on your region), but it’s the kind of visual experience that really benefits from a 4K Blu-ray if you’re a nerd for color grading. Just maybe don't eat dinner while you watch the second act. You've been warned.