There’s a fury in the West.
On Thursday, Netflix debuted the ominous first teaser for Jane Campion’s highly anticipated film “The Power of the Dog”, based on the novel by Thomas Savage.
The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons as brothers Phil and George Burbank, along with Kirsten Dunst as the widow Rose and Kodi Smit-McPhee as her son Peter.
“The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter,” the official description reads. “Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, revelling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter – all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her.
“As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form – he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil’s cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?”
While it doesn’t give away any plot details, the teaser, which features the eerie sound of Cumberbatch whistling over everything, hints at the dark drama in store for audiences.
The film also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach, and Peter Carroll.
“The Power of the Dog” will be screening at TIFF in September. It hits select theatres Nov. 17 and arrives on Netflix Dec. 1.
