Kinds of Kindness

A closer look at the story

Kinds of Kindness is an odd, three-part fable whose stories seem unconnected, yet the same actors bring different characters to life in each. In the first, a man who has been left with no choice in his own life tries to take control of it. In the second, a policeman, rather than rejoicing, grows alarmed when his wife, who was lost at sea, comes back, because the woman who returns seems to be someone else entirely. In the third, a woman is determined to find a particular person with a special gift, someone fated to rise as an extraordinary spiritual guide. Written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou and directed by Lanthimos, this 164-minute 2024 film features Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley and Hong Chau in different roles in each story.