In the world of the near future, it is forbidden for a person not to have a partner. Single individuals are sent to a special hotel where they have to find another half within a very short time. If they fail, they are turned into animals. Yorgos Lanthimos’ paradoxical dystopia reveals the totalitarian background of relationships and any society.
David is not young. He has lost his wife, and must find a new partner. Not because he feels lonely but because it cannot be otherwise: in the world of the not so distant future, where he lives, people are arrested and sent to a special institution for being single. Six weeks is the time frame in which a single person must find a new partner, and once it expires those who have failed to do so are turned into an animal of their choice. David plans to become a lobster. Some extra days of hotel life can be gained by hunting for rebels in the forest, rebels being those individuals who remain alone on principle. It should be impossible to find a partner among them, but this is exactly what David does.
The English-language debut of Greek wave initiator Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, Olivia Colman, and Ben Whishaw, The Lobster portrays a surreal dystopian world only to expose processes actually taking place today. They vary from the disappearance of privacy and the emergence of new forms of violence that are “softer” and less visible, to the formation of a new attitude toward animals.
The film will be screened in English with Russian subtitles.
The Lobster
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Ireland, UK, Greece, France, Netherlands, 2015. 119’ 18+