-Major spoilers included-
If you have not seen the movie yet, please check out our spoiler free review first.
The Lobster Review - What is your animal?
The world of The Lobster is a really strange place, but what did the director actually want to tell us, and is this fictional world really so much different from ours?
I think there is a lot of symbolism here and much of it is directly linked to things we daily encounter and struggle with in our real lives.
The pressure of society
The hotel in the movie shows how society puts pressure on people to get married and live the 'perfect' life as a couple in harmony. It's like there is only one way, and if you don't stick to it, you get criticized. But behind the facade, we can see that many people actually don't really fit together and they try their best everyday to act in front of each other, to not disturb that harmony around them.
On the other side, the people in the forest are also too extreme in their own way and it is pretty much against human nature to not accept any help and share nothing at all with others. They also put enormous stress on themselves and act like they are fine, while they are pretty lonely and miserable on the inside.
So what can you do?
But if both sides are harsh like that, how can you get actually happy? Yorgos Lanthimos, the director, said in an interview that he doesn't know the answers himself and that he wanted to make people think about these topics that we normally take for granted.
Here's what I thought while watching the movie. We can see that most people in the movie are obsessed with little things they have in common. It's like they cling on to something superficial as hard as they can and believe that their relationship is all good, but once you take away that one little thing, everything around them crumbles and suddenly they are left with nothing.
Also we can see that the rebels cannot endure the complete isolation forever. Naturally they are drawn to other people, sooner or later, and they have to lie to themselves and struggle not to break their own rules.
I think the key is to not care too much about what society wants you to do. It's OK to be alone if you can't find someone, or if you simply want to be alone. If you want to be with someone though, choose carefully. It will probably take you more than 45 days, but who cares. Also it doesn't matter what kind of superficial things you have in common, you have to match on a deeper level and truly understand and care for each other. You cannot just build a relationship around one little thing.
At the end of the movie Rachel Weisz is sitting in the restaurant, waiting for Colin Firth to stab his own eyes and come back from the bathroom, but why would he stab his own eyes? Well, it doesn't make much sense, if he would literally stab his eyes. I think it is meant as a way to truly get to know someone, by sacrificing something of your own, to really understand them on a deeper level. But doing something like that is not always easy and it can be quiet scary too.
Will he come back?
I think there is no clear answer to that and the director clearly left it open to interpretation on purpose.
A pessimistic person might say that there was no real love between them in the first place and that he just left her alone. A more romantic person might think that he actually was ready to do what is necessary to stay with her and protect her til the end.
Judging from the overall tone of the film, it doesn't seem like the director is on the optimistic side of the spectrum and I feel like he wanted to criticize some of the superficiality that is so present in the world today.
But that could be just me, tell me your thoughts in the comment section below.
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