Though still a relative newcomer to the cinematic mainstream, Jorgos Lanthamos, has already proved himself to be a filmmaker of wild originality and imagination.

Following his breakthrough feature, Dogtooth, which tells the story of children completely

cut off from the outside world by their parents, he brought us the lobster, a surreal

tale about people who are turned into animals if they fail to find love.

His latest offering is psychological revenge thriller, The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Starring Barry Keown, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman,

it tells the story of a family, forced into making a torturous decision,

having seemingly been cursed. Unsettling, unpredictable and gripping.

It landed the best screenplay award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

I'm Edith Bowman and you're listening to Soundtracking, the weekly podcast about screen music.

Though Yorgos hasn't worked with the composer on any of his films, the classical pieces he uses in the lobster

and deer often serve a similar purpose. For example, this is a string quartet from the former

which effectively scores a quarrel between two of the characters. The film also features the work

of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Strauss and Britain.

The killing of a sacred deer meanwhile has a much more experimental musical palette,

full of agitated strings and alarming tonal shifts.

You'll hear plenty of examples of what I'm talking about throughout the course of our conversation.

But we begin with something no less ominous, yet far more traditional in the shape of Stabbat matter,

which opens the film and gives fair warning of the shape of things to come.

First of all, Yorghers, welcome to soundtrack and congratulations on the killing of a sacred deer.

I always get very excited when I hear that you have a new film coming out

because I never know what to expect

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