Since my first encounter with The Lobster, at last year’s Fantastic Fest, my appreciation for the film has only deepened. It offers a wonderfully weird but incisive look at modern day relationships. After making its mark on unsuspecting viewers during a limited theatrical run, its Blu-ray release means it will be a lot easier to spread the word about one of the best films of 2016.
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.
David (Colin Farrell with impeccable dead-pan timing and mustache throughout) is 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, and dance lessons to 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 and ensuring its residents find a new partner or find freedom in a far more horrifying way.
Whether this bizarre description appeals to you or not will probably dictate your appreciation for the film. It’s a black, comedic satire; an uncomfortably hilarious satire. It’s humiliating enough that these people have already lost their partner; now they are being judged, retrained, and pushed to correct their flaws and move on to a new relationship. The alternative is being removed from society, as if you’re unworthy and the world will be better without you. It’s a culling, essentially, giving the film a chilling dystopic feel. A reality slightly more literal than our own, where ceremony and natural, progressive behavior are replaced by more literal employments. People are detached from their emotions, the embrace of falsehoods or adopting a persona to find (and keep) a mate being far more overt with such heightened stakes.
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 fascinating, and a perfect narrative around which to explore what we actually expect of ourselves and others when it comes to various aspects of love. Upon escape from the Hotel, David encounters “The Loners,” single people who reject all aspects of finding a mate and seek to preserve their individual solitude. The Hotel guests often hunt these outcasts to earn an extra day’s stay. Thus the film represents two conflicting extremes in regard to relationships.
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 by a subtle clenched anger. The occasional outburst or defiant act punctures the sadness, mirroring 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. While the second half stumbles a little in direction and pacing, the offbeat approach to exploring very resonant themes carries the film through to a very affecting conclusion. It’s unconventional, but the subtext is on point. 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?
THE PACKAGE
The quality of The Lobster Blu-ray is good. The palette of the film tends towards more somber tones (in keeping with the film’s humor), but the Irish countryside offers some beautiful scenery which is showcased often. Detail and texture is good, colors look natural, and no defects are noted.
Special features are limited to a ~20 minute featurette, The Fabric of Attraction: Concocting The Lobster, a slightly underwhelming look behind the scenes. The Lobster is a film that would be greatly enriched by a director & cast commentary, and it’s a shame one wasn’t produced. A digital copy is also included. I will point out one consternation I have about this release. With a wonderful poster design for its theatrical release, what were they thinking with this photoshopped monstrosity that graces the Blu-ray cover?
THE BOTTOM LINE
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 unique and unsettling embrace of weirdness and nonchalant, deadpan humor, The Lobster is surprisingly profound and insightful.
The Lobster is available from Lionsgate on DVD and Blu-ray from August 2nd.