45 days
by Douglas Messerli
Efthymis Filippou and Giogos
Lanthimos (screenplay), Giogos Lanthimos (director) The Lobster / 2015, USA 2016
Giogos Lanthimos’dystopian satire, The Lobster, takes place in a seemingly
present but slightly futuristic world where being married is a requirement of
life. Those who have been divorced, and even those whose wife or husband has
died, are taken to a large hotel and given 45 days to find a new life-time
companion. If by the end of that time they have not found someone compatible,
they are transformed to any animal of their choice.
Most choose dogs, reports a hotel staff member, “that’s why there are so
many dogs about.” But the “hero” of this tale, David (a physically
unrecognizable Colin Farrell), wants to be transformed into a lobster if he
cannot find a mate. Even though his brother has become a dog who travels with
him, he has chosen to live his own life as a lobster because of their long
life-spans and the fact they are “blue-blooded,” a sign of their nobility.
Of course, as another hotel guest reminds him, he might be caught and
boiled with his meat scooped out and eaten. Even the animals are not quite
safe: the very first scene portrays a woman angrily speeding to a field where
several donkeys have gathered; she gets out of the car with a shotgun and
shoots and kills one of the donkeys, presumably her ex-husband against whom she
still holds a grudge. We never know whether she got the right donkey.
Not only do the “loners” have to find
someone to marry in 45 days, but apparently they are awarded the right to marry
more easily if they can find someone with whom they share a major
characteristic or habit. In order to save himself, one of David’s friends, the
Limping Man (Ben Whitshaw), focuses on a woman who has regular nosebleeds
(Jessica Barden), banging his face
Although David also befriends a
biscuit-eating woman (Olivia Colman)—who, since she cannot find another biscuit
eater, later attempts suicide—and a Lisping Man (John C. Reilly), who,
similarly, has no luck in finding a companion.
David decides on trying to convince the
Heartless Woman (Angeliki Papoulia) that he is compatible, ignoring the cries
of the biscuit eater and even the Heartless Woman’s own mocked death-throes
through choking. But when she kicks his brother/dog to death, he breaks into
tears, and she becomes determined to report him for his lie, which will mean he
will have no choice of the animal he is to become.
If all of this sounds somewhat fantastic and silly, even illogical, one
only has to think of our society today which, with its new acceptance of gay
marriage (citizens of this dystopian can declare that they are gay, and attempt
to find a gay mate, but bi-sexuality is outlawed, presumably because it would
mean moving from gender to gender), has increasingly advanced a preference for
the marital state—which several single members of the LGBT community, while
recognizing the social and political advances, have questioned; and one need
only listen to the daily television ads for the numerous dating services—where
people are chosen precisely for their “compatibility”—to comprehend some of the
sources of the director’s satire.
However, as David ultimately discovers, being a Loner equally has its
Kafka-like restrictions. In the woods where the Loners hide out in their
attempt not to be shot by the hotel inmates with tranquilizing dart guns (the
inmates are given further days for bagging each Loner), flirting, kissing, and
sexual intercourse have serious consequences, the latter two involving a deep
cutting of lips and other organs.
Here, among numerous of the beasts once existing as humans (peacocks,
pigs, rabbits, and other species) the Loner gang members, headed by their
Leader (Léa Seydoux), must dig their own graves, where if they are hit they can
quickly be buried. Although David has been unable to find a suitable woman in
the hotel, he immediately bonds here with a beautiful Short Sighted Woman
(Rachel Weisz), since he must also wear glasses.
Yet, now their love is quite meaningless and, more importantly,
dangerous to their lives. In order to communicate their love among the others,
they develop—much as do family members in Dogtooth—an
intricate private language wherein, for example, a look to the left expresses
their love, while a look to their right means “danger.”
Despite the harsh conditions Lanthimos
has outlined, however, the film finally changes gears as it evolves into the
territory of a romantic love story, as David conveys to his blind lover that he
is willing, as a kind of doomed Oedipus Rex, to blind himself in order to join
her.
Together the two escape back to the city, David retiring to a bathroom
to accomplish the act of blinding himself. It is a difficult task surely, as he
stuffs paper towels into his mouth to block any screams he may emit during the
act. We never see him actually blind himself, but we can presume it is
successful when the screen suddenly goes black.
The audience with whom I saw the film, however, seemed not to realize
what had happened until the credits began rolling, when several audience
members let out laughs and yelps, even a few boos. I could only own wonder what
else they might have imagined for this remarkable satire of current social
mores? Blindness is always the solution for those who see too much.
Los Angeles, May 31, 2016
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (May 2016).
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