The Lobster, 2015
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Ashley Jensen and John C. Reilly
SYNOPSIS:
In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
They never tell you about this on Match or OKCupid. Such is the power and reliance on such technological advances in 2015 that we leave most of the hard work of finding a suitable partner to a strange algorithm that works out friends from potential foes. But what if, after the love of your life leaves you (in death or otherwise), you have just 45 days to reattach to a new partner before turning into an animal? We can hear you scratching your head from here.
Everything on show in acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopia prophecy The Lobster is stark, harsh and clinical: a future where everything is decided for us and we obey without so much as a second thought. Regimented to within an inch of its life, everything about this strange, narrow-corridored hotel where those of new-found singledom, such as David (Colin Farrell) is designed for one purpose: to force singles to not only interact with fellow singles, but to push them into finding a new spouse before 45 days are up. If they do, love and bliss await once again, if not: you are turned into an animal of your choosing. David’s choice, a lobster due to their long lifespan, is somewhat questionable.
Regimented sounds like a strong word to use to describe this one, but in many ways it is true. You rise for breakfast when told, you do exercise and sport when told, you sleep when told as if enclosed in somewhere far more sinister. But such ways of control and discipline add to strange dream-like qualities Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou infuse into the film: stunted walks, deadpan responses, long periods of silence and stilted surroundings all add to the notion that perhaps everything is but a dream. Or nightmare, depending on your preference.
It’s in its satire that The Lobster truly soars, twisting the modern day dating methods to almost revert back to the “old school” ways of courting: it’s language, both spoken and of body that will be your only tools in wooing your next mate through dances and balls, asking those to “tango” rather than using emoticons or a left or right flick. While everything here seems far-fetched, preposterous, it’s not the biggest jump to imagine this as the very near future: in a society where many of us trust algorithms, mathematics and systems to pick our potential spouses, it’s certainly not too foreign a concept to imagine such things. Even forming the merest friendship with the opposite sex is but under scrutiny here, the age old “men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way” conundrum still clear and present.
Further elevating the film is its cast, lead by a super performance by Colin Farrell in easily his best performance. Stripped of the libido and mojo he usually has in tow, this Farrell is almost instantly repellent to women. His measured, restrained performance (think similar to Jim Carrey’s work inEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is a joy throughout, his impeccable comedy timing put to such good use in In Bruges still intact. Rachel Weisz too, who we see too little of these days, is exemplary, as too are Lea Seydoux, John C. Reilly and Olivia Colman, who you hope soon makes a more permanent transition onto the big screen.
For all the positives though, the film will be impenetrable for many and will certainly divide opinions. After all, one person’s quirk is another’s fingernails on a chalkboard, ripping scorching holes in your head as the sheer bafflement of what is going on cause you balk and run for the Woods. And for many, that’s exactly what they may find with The Lobster: it’s curates egg of a film. When you leave the cinema, you may well be scratching your head but like many great original films such as this, stick with it and the reward is a bewildering, original and dryly witted film that never fails to fascinate.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Scott Davis is a Senior Staff Writer at Flickering Myth and co-host of The Flickering Myth Podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=C_zu6XuI_g4
Originally published October 13, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
