The Lobster is a wonderfully strange satire about society’s obsession with finding a partner. While it’s not for everyone, those that stick it out are rewarded with a hilariously somber yet gratifying experience.
The strength of this film is it’s weird premise. We follow David (Colin Farrell) as he is sent to The Hotel after his wife leaves him. In this world, anyone who is single must find a partner within 45 days or they are turned into an animal of their choice David’s brother Bob is now a dog under his care because he failed. David chooses a lobster due to his “love of the sea” and the animal’s life long fertility (More on this later).
Everyone is judge and paired by their “Defining Characteristic,” which can be anything from a beautiful smile to simply a limp. And everyday, the denizens of The Hotel hunt the Loners, the single people hiding in the surrounding forest.
Love is quantified and forced on the people of this world. It’s a strange, mind-bending premise that will make your head spin. This is so out there…or is it? To all my single readers: How often have you been asked when you’ll “finally” find someone? You’re somehow nothing without a partner. You may as well be a savage animal.
So how do you find love? These days, almost everything can become a stat or logarithm. All the dating websites attempt to do this with their compatibility percentages. The Lobster takes this to absurd levels, reducing love to a barely tangible “Defining Characteristic”. I don’t know about you, but this is one of the scariest dystopian societies I’ve ever seen on screen.
Which is why the humor works so well: This is ridiculous. If The Lobster had been a serious film, the message would fall flat and the film would collapse under its own self-importance. As a comedy, it shows the folly of quantifying love.
It’s hard to judge the acting in this movie. Everyone is the same in this world. Dry and restrained emotionally, every character speaks as though they are reading from an instruction manual on how to make small talk. Their interactions are all awkward because these people have no idea how to handle emotion.
The only one who seems to be having any kind of “fun” is the Loner Leader (Lea Seydoux). Colin Farrell seemingly fits in with the restrained ranks of people, but remember that desire to be a lobster due to its life long fertility? It’s a subtle line right at the beginning of the film, but it’s an important one. That desire makes Farrell’s David the most optimistic person in this world.
Life long fertility means that there’s always a chance.
And while he is optimistic in some ways, he’s still a product of the rules of this society. It explains his fumbling relationship with a compelling Short Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz). When love comes in a natural way, David and the Short Sighted Woman Also, her narration for most of the film is handy since it’s hard to tell what the bland David is thinking much of the time.
The film is shot with many excruciatingly uncut static shots. In some cases, these shots stay on a set point long after the action has happened, creating a dry stasis. Dynamic camera work would be way out of place in this emotionally restrained world and director Yorgos Lanthimos does amazing work with a largely stationary camera.
The Lobster also uses a jarring and harsh string section that plays like a horror film soundtrack over seemingly mundane scenes, adding unease to an already absurd situation. It’s used especially effective during the scenes involving David with a character known as The Heartles Woman (Angeliki Papoulia). To go any further would spoil a little too much of the film.
Now while the film is solid overall, I couldn’t help but feel like this premise is stretched past a certain point. The film is a bit longer than it should be…though now that I think about it, maybe that’s Lanthimos’ intention.
The film lingers like his shots, drawing you deeper into his surreal world.
Score: 8.5 out of 10