The Lobster

For other uses, see Lobster (disambiguation).
The Lobster

Film poster
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Produced by
  • Ceci Dempsey
  • Ed Guiney
  • Yorgos Lanthimos
  • Lee Magiday
Written by
  • Efthymis Filippou
  • Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring
Cinematography Thimios Bakatakis
Edited by Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Production
companies
  • Element Pictures
  • Scarlet Films
  • Faliro House Productions
  • Haut et Court
  • Lemming Film
Distributed by
  • Feelgood Entertainment (Greece)
  • Haut et Court (France)
  • Element Pictures (Ireland)
  • De Filmfreak (Netherlands)
  • Picturehouse Entertainment (UK)
Release dates
  • 15 May 2015 (2015-05-15) (Cannes)
  • 16 October 2015 (2015-10-16) (United Kingdom & Ireland[1])
  • 22 October 2015 (2015-10-22) (Greece & Netherlands)
  • 28 October 2015 (2015-10-28) (France)
Running time
 118 minutes[2]
Country
  • Ireland
  • United Kingdom
  • Greece
  • France
  • Netherlands
Language
  • English
  • French
Budget €4 million[3]
Box office $6.1 million[4]

The Lobster is a 2015 film directed by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos in his English language feature film debut. Set in a dystopian near-future, the film tells the story of a city where singles are given 45 days to find a romantic partner or otherwise be turned into animals.[5] It stars Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. The film is internationally co-produced by companies from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Greece, France and the Netherlands.

It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[6]

Plot

According to the rules of the City, single people are taken to the Hotel where they are given 45 days to find a partner. Those who fail are turned into an animal of their choice and released into the forest. Masturbation is banned but sexual stimulation by the hotel maid, without orgasm, is mandatory. The guests attend dances and watch propaganda extolling the virtues of partnership. They can extend their stay by hunting escapees, the Loners, with tranquilliser guns in the woods. Each captured Loner affords an extra day to find a partner.

After his wife leaves him for another man, David arrives at the Hotel with his brother, who has been turned into a dog. He makes acquaintances with a man with a lisp and a man with a limp. After the Lisping Man is caught masturbating, the Hotel Manager burns his fingers in a toaster. The Limping Man wins the affections of a woman who suffers from nosebleeds by smashing his nose against hard surfaces, feigning his own nosebleed problem. The two move to the couples section to begin their month of trial partnership.

During a hunt for a loner, Biscuit Woman flirts with David. After he declines her offer of sexual pleasure, she tells him that if she fails to find a mate, she will kill herself by jumping off the hotel.

David decides to seduce the most cold-blooded woman, the Heartless Woman. He first sees her in the outdoor area, and attempts to talk to her, but their conversation is interrupted by the screams of the Biscuit Woman, who has jumped out of her room. Sharing a jacuzzi, the Heartless Woman feigns choking; when he does not respond, she decides they may be a good match and they begin their trial relationship. After she murders David's brother, he claims he does not care; when he begins to cry, she concludes their relationship is built on a lie. As she marches him to the Hotel Manager he escapes and, with the help of the maid, tranquillizes her and transforms her into an animal.

David escapes the Hotel and joins the Loners in the woods. The Loners forbid romance, which is punishable with violence. David, who is short-sighted, begins a secret relationship with a short-sighted woman, and they communicate in sign language. They go on covert missions to the city, where their cover requires them to appear as lovers, which they secretly enjoy.

The Loners launch a raid on the Hotel. David tells the Nosebleed Woman that her partner has been faking his nosebleeds. The others give the Hotel Manager's husband the chance to shoot his wife to save himself. He pulls the trigger and finds the gun empty. The Loners leave the couple to face each other.

The Loner Leader reads the Short Sighted Woman's journal and discovers her and David's plan to escape. She takes her to the city, ostensibly to have an operation to cure her short sightedness, but instead has her blinded. Short Sighted Woman defends herself and stabs the maid, who has now joined the Loners in the forest. Shortly afterwards David attacks the Loner Leader, leaving her tied up in a grave for wild dogs to attack, and he and the Short Sighted Woman escape to the City. In a restaurant David looks at the Short Sighted Woman one last time before going to the bathroom and attempting to blind himself. It is kept ambiguous whether he actually did.

Cast

Production

Principal photography began on 24 March 2014, and concluded on 9 May 2014.[8][9] Filming took place in Dublin, Ireland, which represents "The City" in the film, and also at locations in and around County Kerry, including Sneem, Dromore Woods and Kenmare in Ireland.[10][11][12][13]

Marketing and distribution

In May 2014, it was announced that Sony Pictures acquired the distribution rights for Australia, New Zealand, German-speaking Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.[9] A film still featuring Farrell, Whishaw, and Reilly was released around the same time.[14] In May 2015, Alchemy acquired United States distribution rights, however, due to the company struggling financially A24 acquired rights instead.[15][16] Originally scheduled to be released on 11 March 2016, it was re-scheduled to May 13, 2016.[17][18]

Reception

Critical response

The Lobster received acclaim from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92% based on reviews from 72 critics, with an average score of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As strange as it is thrillingly ambitious, The Lobster is definitely an acquired taste – but for viewers with the fortitude to crack through Yorgos Lanthimos' offbeat sensibilities, it should prove a savory cinematic treat."[19] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 80 based on 14 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[20]

Oliver Lyttelton of The Playlist awarded the film an "A" grade and described it as "an atypically rich and substantial comedy" with "an uproarious yet deadpan satire concerning societal constructs, dating mores and power structures that also manages to be a surprisingly moving, gloriously weird love story." He concluded that the film was Lanthimos' "most accessible and purely enjoyable film yet".[21] Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review and commended the film for being "visually stunning, narratively bold, and totally singular", adding that "it opens [one's] eyes to a new way of storytelling."[22]

Guy Lodge, writing for Variety, called the film "a wickedly funny, unexpectedly moving satire of couple-fixated society", elaborating that Lanthimos' "confounding setup emerge as a brilliant allegory for the increasingly superficial systems of contemporary courtship, including the like-for-like algorithms of online dating sites and the hot-or-not snap judgments of Tinder."[23]

Peter Bradshaw of the The Guardian rated the film three stars out of five, and wrote that The Lobster is "elegant and eccentric in Lanthimos’s familiar style", but "appears to run out of ideas at its mid-way point".[24] IGN awarded it a score of 8.5 out of 10, saying "Colin Farrell heads up this surreal, hilarious and ultimately quite disturbing tale."[25]

Accolades

List of accolades
Award / film festival Category Recipient(s) Result
Belgian Film Critics Association[26] Grand Prix The Lobster Nominated
British Academy Film Awards[27] Outstanding British Film The Lobster Nominated
British Independent Film Awards[28][29] Best British Independent Film The Lobster Nominated
Best Director Yorgos Lanthimos Nominated
Best Actor Colin Farrell Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Olivia Colman Won
Best Supporting Actor Ben Whishaw Nominated
Best Screenplay Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou Nominated
Producer of the Year Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Lee Magiday Nominated
Cannes Film Festival[30][30][31] Palme d'Or The Lobster Nominated
Jury Prize The Lobster Won
Queer Palm – Special Mention The Lobster Won
Palm Dog Award – Grand Jury Prize Bob the dog Won
Dublin Film Critics' Circle[32] Best Irish Film The Lobster 5th place
Best Actor Colin Farrell 5th place
European Film Awards[33][34] Best European Film The Lobster Nominated
Best European Director Yorgos Lanthimos Nominated
Best European Actor Colin Farrell Nominated
Best European Screenwriter Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou Won
Best Costume Designer Sarah Blenkinsop Won
Evening Standard British Film Awards[35][36] Best Film The Lobster Nominated
Award for Comedy Olivia Colman Nominated
Colin Farrell Nominated
Film Fest Gent[37] Georges Delerue Award for Best Sound Design The Lobster Won
Irish Film & Television Awards[38] Best Actor in a Lead Role (Film) Colin Farrell Nominated
London Film Critics' Circle[39] British / Irish Film of the Year The Lobster Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Olivia Colman Nominated
British / Irish Actor of the Year Colin Farrell Nominated
Miami International Film Festival[40] Grand Jury Award for Best Director Yorgos Lanthimos Won
Online Film Critics Society[41] Best Non-U.S. Films The Lobster Won
Rotterdam International Film Festival[42] ARTE International Prize for Best CineMart 2013 Project The Lobster Won

References

  1. ↑ "Film Distributors Association: UK release schedule – past, present and future". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Lobster (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Les Arcs celebrates diverse crop of Ireland films". Screendaily.com. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "The Lobster – International Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "The Lobster" (PDF). Cannes. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "Toronto to open with 'Demolition'; world premieres for 'Trumbo', 'The Program'". ScreenDaily. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Giorgos Lanthimos’ Lobster reveals first pictures". Variety. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  8. ↑ "Yorgos Lanthimos commences The Lobster shoot". Cineuropa. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Sony snaps up The Lobster starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz". ScreenDaily. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz to Star in Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘The Lobster’". Variety. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  11. ↑ "Colin Farrell's arrival gets quiet village dreaming of its own 'Quiet Man'". Irish Independent. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Minister Deenihan visits set of ‘Lobster’ on final day of filming in Kerry". Coillte. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "What a happy set! Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz share a laugh in between scenes as they film The Lobster in Dublin". Daily Mail. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "First Look: Colin Farrell, Ben Whishaw & John C. Reilly In Yorgos Lanthimos' 'The Lobster'". Indiewire. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (May 20, 2015). "Alchemy Catches ‘The Lobster:’ – Cannes". deadline.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  16. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (16 February 2016). "The Lobster' Moves to A24 Amid Alchemy Struggles". TheHollywoodReporter.com. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Wire, Indie (31 December 2015). "The 17 Best Films of 2016 We've Already Seen". Indiewire.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  18. ↑ McNary, Dave (16 March 2016). "Colin Farrell-Rachel Weisz Comedy ‘The Lobster’ Set for May Release". Variety. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  19. ↑ "The Lobster (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  20. ↑ "The Lobster". Metacritic.
  21. ↑ "Cannes Review: Yorgos Lanthimos' Outstanding 'The Lobster' Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz & John C Reilly". Indiewire. 15 May 2015.
  22. ↑ "The Lobster: Toronto Film Festival review". Entertainment Weekly. 12 September 2015.
  23. ↑ "Cannes Film Review: ‘The Lobster’". Variety. 15 May 2015.
  24. ↑ "The Lobster review – dark satire on relationships gets fishy near the tail-end". The Guardian. 15 May 2015.
  25. ↑ http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/05/18/the-lobster-review
  26. ↑ ""Le fils de Saul", Grand Prix de l'Union de la Critique de Cinéma" (in French). RTBF. January 10, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Baftas 2016: full list of nominations". The Guardian. 8 January 2016.
  28. ↑ "The Lobster on a roll with seven British independent film awards nominations". The Guardian. 3 November 2015.
  29. ↑ "‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Room’ Win Big at British Independent Film Awards". The Wrap. 6 December 2015.
  30. 1 2 Henry Barnes (24 May 2015). "Cannes 2015: Jacques Audiard's Dheepan wins the Palme d'Or". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  31. ↑ Rebecca Ford (24 May 2015). "Cannes: 'Dheepan' Wins the Palme d'Or". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  32. ↑ "2015 Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards Announced". entertainment.ie. 22 December 2015.
  33. ↑ "'The Lobster,' 'Goodnight Mommy' Win European Film Awards". Indiewire. 27 October 2015.
  34. ↑ "‘Youth,’ ‘The Lobster’ Lead European Film Award Nominations". Variety. 7 November 2015.
  35. ↑ "Evening Standard British Film Awards: The longlist". London Evening Standard. 22 December 2015.
  36. ↑ "Evening Standard British Film Awards 2016: Idris Elba and Dame Maggie Smith lead list of winners". London Evening Standard. 7 February 2016.
  37. ↑ "Ixcanul wins the Film Fest Gent". Cineuropa. 21 October 2015.
  38. ↑ "IFTA 2016 Nominees". IFTA.
  39. ↑ "‘Carol,’ ’45 Years’ and Tom Hardy Lead London Critics’ Nominations". Variety. 15 December 2015.
  40. ↑ "'Dheepan' and 'Paulina' triumph in Miami". Screendaily. 13 March 2016.
  41. ↑ "‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Wins Best Picture of 2015 From Online Film Critics Society". Variety. 13 December 2015.
  42. ↑ "Lanthimos Wins Rotterdam’s CineMart Prize". Greek Reporter. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.

External links

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