CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

The Power of the Dog (film)

2021 film by Jane Campion

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 27, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The Power of the Dog is a 2021 Western psychological drama film written, co-produced and directed by Jane Campion. It is based on Thomas Savage's 1967 novel. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Set in Montana in 1925 and filmed mostly in rural areas in New Zealand’s Otago Region, the film is an international co-production between New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Power of the Dog (film)” as 2021 film by Jane Campion. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Power, film and Jane.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2021, 1967, 1925—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Power, film and Jane providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Power of the Dog (film)”, the useful work is to connect “2021 film by Jane Campion” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1967 and 1925.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Power of the Dog (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Power of the Dog (film) primary sources, The Power of the Dog (film) archive and Power research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Power of the Dog (film)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Power of the Dog (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.