Big Picture Review
Film Making Artistry
News Around the World
The Lobster: An absurd dystopian comedy–drama
By: Lindi Mugwara
I got the feeling Yorgos Lanthimos purposefully made the film weird and bizarre. I think that it was completely justified because the characters inhabit a world where the norms of society are challenged and an nontraditional set of rules are put forward. The whole idea of living in a world where being single can be something to fear and it having repercussions if one fails to find a suitable partner: you get turned into an animal. If there is any consolation in that, the unlucky recipient can at the very least choose what animal it wants to be. And so Lobster thrives on the questions surrounding companionship and solitude and what lengths one would go to achieve the former and avoid the latter.
The film centers on David (Colin Farrell), who checks into a hotel in the hopes of finding a partner. His brother was turned into a dog, and is now his four- legged friend. The hotel is in no way a paradise but instead can be more appropriately labeled a matchmaking boot camp. As the days pass, the prospect of being turned into an animal frightens many of the guests. The hotel manger is brilliantly and icily portrayed by Olivia Colman. She has the air of an authoritarian figure laying down the law. David receives a routine check up by the maid (Ariane Labed) and is also paid a visit by the hotel manager. She inquires what animal he would like to be turned to, if he was unable to find love. He chooses a Lobster, the namesake of the film, his spirit animal if you will.
David befriends two guests the lisping man (John C. Reilly) and the limping man (Jim Whishaw), their weirdness unifies them. As a way to add more days to their stay, affording them more time for them to find a mate, the guests go on hunting trips to hunt down loners that reside in the forest. Those were the set of people that shunned the notion that, that is the way things are supposed to be. As a ploy to be in a bona-fide union. The limping man bloodies his nose on purpose so he can match with the girl that has regular nose bleeds. David concocts his on subterfuge and partners up with the cold hearted woman (Angeliki Papoulia). That plan back fires, she brutally murders his brother/dog, to test his loyalty to her. He escapes with the help of the maid. He runs off and joins up with the loners. They also have their own set of rules that must be adhered to: no coupling up with anyone. David at first is okay with the idea but he is instantly drawn to the short sighted woman (Rachel Weisz), the two are connected by virtue of them both being short sighted, but I feel that their attraction goes beyond their shared ailment. The loner leader (Lea Seydoux) finds out about their love and takes preemptive action to quell this union from developing further. The short sighted woman is blinded after what she thought was a routine eye check up. David takes the lead; he punishes the loner leader, by leaving her for dead in a dug up grave. He runs off with the short sighted woman. As a sign of his love he decides he will share the same fate as his lover.
The score encapsulated an urgency and foreboding which was superbly interwoven with the narrative. The cinematography was exquisitely shot by Thimios Bakatuakis. Many of the shots can be compared to a painting or photograph. The DP captures this world so vividly and authentically. Credit must be given to the director for choosing to let a lot of the action happening in the scene to play out, the mise-en scene.
The most powerful shot comes at the end of the film, which is a wide shot of the short sighted woman waiting on David in a restaurant while he is in the bathroom readying himself to go blind. And the way the shot sits on our screen, juxtaposed with what we know of what is happening in the bathroom. A feeling of melancholy hangs, one can fear the worst. A resolution without finality. The originality of the film makes it an absolute triumph coupled with the great performances from a formidable cast. A love story unlike anything we have witnessed. A film I would endorse the masses to watch. ​​