by Jon Partridge
Within a minute of The Lobster we witness a woman drive into the countryside, step out from her car and shoot a donkey in the head. It is disconcerting but with context, a perfect microcosm for the world Director Yorgos Lanthimos and his co-writer Efthymis Filippou have crafted. Dark, unsettling, hilarious and wonderfully weird.
Set in a seemingly alternate reality, we find a society where people are obligated to be in a couple. Once single, through breakup or bereavement people are taken to “The Hotel”, where they are given 45 days to fall in love before they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released.
The rules of human society are what separate us from the beasts. The idea that we must join them if we do not conform to these rules is fascinatingly and a perfect narrative around which to explore what we actually expect of ourselves and others when it comes to various aspects of love.
Our protagonist is David, (Colin Farrell with impeccable dead-pan timing and mustache throughout) a new arrival at The Hotel after his wife left him for another man. With his brother (now a dog) in tow, he undergoes initiation and training as the staff seek to pair him with another single resident. Through him we are exposed to the rules of this dystopia, slowly unfurling and impeccably layered to enlighten and drive home the humor and the horror behind this society. From courtship rites, erection testing, dance lessons as well as more specific scenarios enacted by the hotel staff on why women should not walk unaccompanied to why men should not dine alone, The Hotel is geared to showing the folly of singledom. Upon escape, David encounters the other side of the coin, a group known as ‘The Loners” who rejects all aspects of finding a mate and seeks to preserve their individual solitude. The Hotel guests often hunt these loners to earn an extra day’s stay. Thus the film represents two conflicting extremes in regards to love.
At its core are the dueling fears of solitude and the idea of forcing oneself into a relationship because it is expected. The heightened controls and rules imposed in this society squeeze the joy out of life as they do in our own. The film essentially lays out existing social conventions and in doing so makes them absurd. For example, those with trouble in a relationship may be issued a child, mirroring the decision by many couples to ‘have’ a child to save their relationship. Or the idea that people are drawn together by common interests, herein applied to those with physical defects (shortsightedness, baldness or a limp). Typical conventions are subverted and David’s journey is a chilling but ultimately poignant and enlightening one.
There are a host of supporting characters who each craft their own memorable niche in the film, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Ariane Labed, Olivia Colman, Aggeliki Papoulia and Léa Seydoux to name but a few. Through them and Farrell in particular, a superb deadpan nonchalance permeates the film, everyone playing on the same harmonious level. Often this is accompanied by sad resignation to their fate but sometimes with a subtle clenched anger. The occasional outburst or defiant act punctures the sadness, something in all of us who choose to not conform, stirring little acts in a sea of despondency.
Lanthimos has meshed this talent with a truly unique vision. The grey skies of Ireland serve as the perfect backdrop to complement the narrative and humor, a sheen and sterility to the visuals with the occasional foreboding voiceover and dramatic musical tone penetrating the icy calm. Every frame exudes a coolness but underneath is something very moving indeed. The ideas of The Lobster can be summed up in a few scattered frames in the film with the hilarious sight of a Shetland pony or camel walking in the backdrop that symbolize a person transformed. A victim perhaps of the confining rules and expectations of society but in some cases, maybe, someone who chose not to conform and live a lie and instead pursue a truth in their feelings and isn’t that what love really is?
At a time where our own society is even more than ever being driven to meet that special someone in the face of ever increasing divorce rates, The Lobster is that special film that totally encapsulates the contradictory nature of what is expected of us as well as what it is to truly love someone. Despite its embrace of weirdness and nonchalant, deadpan humor The Lobster is surprisingly profound and moving and is utterly unique as a result.