The Lobster is the kind of film that starts with an unbelievable premise but is so well constructed you don’t even question it. In this case the premise is a future where if you aren’t married you are shipped to a resort where you must find a partner or be turned into an animal. The main character, David (played by Colin Farrell) is newly single and accompanied to the hotel by a dog who used to be his brother. He has 45 days to find a partner, this person must share a trait in common with him. The 45 day limit can be extended by hunting the “loners”, the single people who have escaped into the forest surrounding the hotel of which Rachel Weisz’s character is a member.
This film reminded me of the experience of online dating, trying to find someone who shares common interests but having no knowledge of their actual nature. This seems to me like a comment on how there is a cultural expectation that you and your partner be perfectly matched at least superficially. The actors deftly demonstrate their characters’ desperation and their attempts to mask it, after all this is not a quest for happiness but a struggle not to lose their identities.
The Loners do not represent freedom but another extreme with restrictions on their members’ behaviour. There is no middle ground, no room for expression and seemingly no possibility for happiness in either state. The sets reflect this bleakness but also lend a beauty contrasting the ugliness of the situation. However this film is not all doom and gloom there are many moments of subtle comedy.
This film is worth a watch if you are in a thoughtful mood.
The team behind The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymius Filippou, new film The Killing of a Sacred Deer has just been released.