The frank robotic bursts that everyone speaks in only adds to bizarre commentary. Curiously surreal incidents and mundane events suddenly seem incredibly funny when delivered alongside jarring deadpan delivery. People are so narrowly pigeonholed that they begin to feign traits in order to successfully find a compatible partner. The absurdist nature of The Lobster comes into focus when Limping Man becomes visibly distraught that a new potential match has only suffered a temporary sprained ankle, making her obviously unviable.
While satire hovers strongly over this approach to character development, it’s also a great source of humour. In this world obsessed with order, these simplistic characteristics are used to match people in a way not wholly dissimilar to the box ticking world of digital dating.
Reilly and Ben Whishaw, whose characters apparently have names, are reduced to their two most prominent features: Lisping Man and Limping Man (respectively). Biscuit Lady (Ashley Jensen), Nosebleed Woman (Jessica Barden) and Campari Man (Patrick Malone) stand out among the soulless vessels drifting through the hotel corridors. This repressive atmosphere extends to its inhabitants, who are mostly defined by their most obvious trait rather than a name. There’s no room for expression in this drab world. The central hotel setting is similarly bland its mere presence fills shots with an air of resignation. Even shots of the great outdoors, which depict a world remarkably like the Scottish Highlands, fail to expose that natural beauty. Cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis douses the film in a wall chart’s worth of dreary colours: brown, grey and beige. Lanthimos does an excellent job of bringing The Lobster’s bizarre world alive by, paradoxically, making it as sterile and bland as possible. Much like A Clockwork Orange, Alphaville or Fahrenheit 451, this is science fiction that’s rooted deep enough in reality to make it frighteningly possible. Except, of course, for the bit about transmogrifying into animals. The film falls into that very specific imagining of dystopia where what we see is unquestionably (and superficially) recognizable, yet behind the façade something is amiss. I was never sure whether I was in the near future or a tweaked parallel universe, but I knew that something wasn’t quite right. The Lobster exists in an undefined dystopia. It’s a wacky old concept, supplemented by wacky old characters in a wacky old world, but for the most part Lanthimos is on to something novel with his innovative take on black comedy. The film follows David (Colin Farrell) as he’s sent to a hotel to find a partner in 45 days or face becoming his chosen creature-a lobster. The Lobster places us in a world where relationships are so important that those who haven’t found a partner within an allocated time are forced to reincarnate as an animal of their choosing. Clearly it’s been on Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ mind. Whether it’s the whirling infantile mind or the daydreams of a bored office worker, this thought holds a primitive interest. “If you were an animal, what animal would you be?”
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