The Lobster asks the nearly unanswerable question: How do you know if you’re in love? Using a very weird and dark premise, The Lobster tells us a tale of the search for love, a very awkward, sometimes creepy, sometimes lovely tale. Colin Farrell should keep starring in movies from European directors; they seem to get the best out of him.
David (Farrell) comes to a hotel after the end of a lengthy relationship. The hotel manager (Olivia Colman) informs him he has 45 days to find a suitable wife, or else he will be turned into a lobster, the animal of his choice. David makes a couple friends (Ben Whishaw and John C. Reilly) and starts his search for his true love. However, the longer David spends there, the longer he starts to question his living situation. Especially after he meets a woman (Rachel Weisz) whom he shares a strong connection with outside of the hotel.
The Lobster’s best insight is how important outside factors are to determining your pursuit of love, particularly societal constraints. The hotel dictates to its residents the parameters that are necessary to finding a stable mate: no lying, no sexual contact, common interests, fear of being alone. These parameters are probably fine for some of the residents, but many like David struggle finding love within them. as a result, David tries out the single life freedom run by the Loner Leader (Lea Seydoux). Even there, rules dominate his existence: accept your independence, be alone, no flirting, etc; so when David connects by chance with the Short Sighted Woman like him, he has to curse his poorly timed luck and risk alienation and vengeance from the single people to be with her. All these rules become so jumbled that David and the woman have no idea what the “correct” way to be in their relationship is. As most people figure out, two people in love should choose to be in love the way that makes them happy, not rely on personal projection from other people to tell them what is right and what is wrong in the love game.
Writer/Director Yorgos Lanthimos creates a fascinating language The Lobster lives in. The dialogue reeks of artificiality because of the societal framing, creating just some darkly hilarious slants. To try to connect, people list off their various attributes, and hope the other person shares some of the attributes as well. These scenes are so awkward you can’t help but giggle at least a little. The plays the hotel runs for why you must be with someone are so over the top and illogical that you laugh at the naivete of the sketch and the people shyly applauding it. One couple creates their own sign language just to keep their relationship secret. These choices also help highlight just how weird finding a relationship is in today’s society? I mean, isn’t it just as weird that we use phones to communicate artificially with people instead of face to face?
The acting is uniformly excellent. Colin Farrell has been on a role since he stopped playing generic heroes. Here he downplays everything to give David a shy meek everyman feel: someone we all can relate to: a person searching for love. He subtly adapts to every woman he tries to connect with, and displays a deft hand at keeping himself tightly wound throughout. Rachel Weisz is a nice match for him, giving Farrell a mirror to play off of and providing a very interesting voiceover for The Lobster. At the hotel, Olivia Colman and Garry Mountaine are great at the couple running the hotel, using and abusing their power, and showcasing real weakness when removed from that power. Ariane Labed should become a household name soon; Labed is great as the maid at the hotel, playing a very conflicted character trapped between belief systems. Ben Whishaw and John C. Reilly are also very good at being David’s friends, equally struggling to find mates. Outside the hotel, Lea Seydoux should also soon be a household name; she is a kickass loner who manages those adrift with a strong but sympathetic fist. She could easily be your worst enemy or best friend.
The Lobster quietly displays a strong critique of the way we as a society dictate relationship building. Using a bizarre premise, the movie wins us over with strong acting and well thought out insights on how we connect with one another. But come on Colin Farrell. A lobster? Think a little bigger: I’d rather be a falcon, or maybe a dinosaur, or a pegasus. Let’s not be bound by reality.