The Shape of Water
by Guillermo del Toro (screenplay by) & Vanessa Taylor (screenplay by)
Bull Productions
It’s no secret that I love Guillermo del Toro and his really fascinating way of making precisely the movie in his head (and it’s never the same movie twice). This particular movie has been described as “the R-rated version of Lilo and Stitch” and… that’s not wrong.
Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a woman who cannot talk, and who works nights as a cleaner in a research center in Baltimore in the 1960s. She has two close friends – Zelda, a co-worker, and Giles, her starving-artist neighbor. She communicates with them with sign language, with her face, with her eyes, with her whole body.
One night, a team led by a Colonel Strickland (Michael Shannon, in one of the his most Michael Shannon roles) brings in a tank with a… thing… inside. Strickland calls it the Asset, the credits call him Amphibian Man, but Elisa just calls him, “He.” Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) is kept chained in a tank, and he and Elisa embark on a relationship based around hard boiled eggs and music. (Then they bone.)
Reality intervenes as Strickland (a pure sadist) tries to understand Amphibian Man in the most brutal way possible, and Russian spies try to get their hands on him. There’s a jailbreak, and hints of the events of the world. There’s a lot happening, and it’s beautifully, lovingly filmed.
And yes, there is Elisa/Amphibian Man banging. Del Toro specified when they were designing the Amphibian Man costume that he needed to have a nice butt. And he does.
Sally Hawkins is perfect as Elisa. She acts with her whole body, and when she’s listening to someone, she’s listening with her whole body. When she needs to make herself heard, she does it with her whole body. When she’s flirting with Amphibian Man, it’s with her whole being. Hawkins has talked about the ASL she uses– it’s deliberately a bit rudimentary and 1960s period specific, and the fact that she and del Toro put thought into how Elisa learned to communicate and how that affects the performance makes my heart go pitter-pat. Expect to see her on Oscar night.
Doug Jones (the actor, not the politician) (it’s been a weird week), who’s worked with del Toro on Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Crimson Peak (and many around here would know him as one of the Gentlemen in the episode “Hush” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), is one of those actors who’s strength lies in his physicality. He’s very tall, and has a background in mime and contortion, so even though there’s no words spoken, like Elisa, Amphibian Man communicates with his whole body. Unlike Hawkins, though, Jones does it through layers of make-up and prostheses. He’s got a lot of experience with del Toro and prostheses, but WOW is he amazing.
What I liked: the love story between Elisa and Amphibian Man is very sweet. What’s the long term potential? Well, it’s a fairy tale, so it’s happily ever after. She shows him kindness and compassion, and it’s something he sorely needs. He’s the damsel in distress, and she saves him (after rallying a crack team to help her). I liked the Russian spy subplot.
I loved how very specifically the time period was drawn. We know where were are in the space race (post-Laika, post-Yuri Gagarin, pre-John Glenn). We know where we are in Civil Rights era, and we know that Baltimore is still seething in racial tension. We see it in the margins and in casual mentions, and it adds a little bit more texture to the movie.
Even the supporting characters get a moment to hint at their inner lives- Giles is closeted, and gets some time to explore what that means and how that affects his life and his choices. Zelda gets a little less to work with (it’s hard to tell while watching, because Octavia Spencer is amazing), but I had a sense of what her family life is like, and how her relationship with Elisa has evolved.
Things I liked less: There were rather more boob shots that were strictly necessary. Strickland is not only a authoritarian, but he’s also a sadist and a rapist (he does not actually commit rape, but he wants to, and very much sexually harasses Elisa). Like, I knew he was a bad guy, you didn’t need to add the threat of sexual violence to it, especially this year. I’m TIRED OF IT.
There’s a lot of gore, including Guillermo’s continued fascination with wounds in cheeks. There is also violence to a cat – when it’s telegraphed that something bad is going to happen to a cat, trust that feeling. (Unlike the dog in Crimson Peak, it’s unambiguous.)
The tone of the movie is very 1960s- bright colors, sharp contrasts. Eliza and Giles live above an old movie palace, and there are constantly old movies on tv screens or the movie screen. Elisa and Giles have a little dance they do that they’ve clearly done a thousand times. There’s a somewhat random song-and-dance number, even the score is a throwback to chipper older French movies. It’s both candy-colored and very dark in places.
Look, if “R-rated Lilo and Stitch” and “Guillermo del Toro” doesn’t get you interested, there’s nothing else I can tell you. However, PROTIP: don’t be like me with my tiny bladder, who got drinks before the movie and yes, even though I went to the bathroom before the movie started, after two hours of a movie full of WATER IMAGERY…I was in some sorta way. So…dehydrate yourself, I guess?
Goodness, RHG. I’m a del Toro fan anyway, but you make this sound so enticing. Thank you.
I loved the film. Saw it the same day as TLJ. (“Do not underestimate the cleaning crew” day at the movies.)
I can kinda forgive the threats of sexual violence, since it’s atypical for del Toro and fits the character. But, yeah, this is a bad year for it.
If you’re squicked by hand injuries like I am, there’s some potentially bad moments from one that’s in evidence for most of the film. (It was obvious to me that it would go the way it did, but cringe.)
Oh, and if anyone else out there is a Forever Knight fan, John Kapelos and Nigel Bennett, in minor roles. /fangirling
This looks amazing, and I’m 110% here for it. I’m only sad I’ll have to wait until it goes on demand because it doesn’t seem to be playing anywhere near me. 🙁
I love the premise, but gross gory stuff + rapey dude in power = me not seeing it. And the cat… no bad stuff happening to kittehs for me, thanks. If it was a drama with a PG-13 rating, not with the gross and extraneous boobage, I would be all over this movie. I saw the trailer, which was gorgeous, but the things you have mentioned rate this movie a no-go for me. Sad, since I don’t see movies very often.
Thank you for saving me the money. Can’t handle anything happening to a cat.
Gore is not my thing, and violence to kitties is right out, so I won’t be seeing it…which makes me mad, because aside from those things, this sounds like something that would be right in my wheelhouse. Where are all my non-gory, kitty-friendly, sea creature/human love stories?
Agree, thanks for the info on the cat. Animal cruelty is a deal breaker for me.
@PlantLady Not Human/Sea Creature, but Hellboy 2 has a bit of a romantic subplot involving a Sea Creature. (I want to say she’s an elf, but I can’t remember if the movie says she is.)
There are cats too, and nothing bad happens to them.
I loooooooved this movie and saw it w/o knowing about the violence against the kitty. Thankfully, most (if not all) of the violent scenes are announced way in advance. In any case, it’s an R-rated flick by GDT. I’ve watched his films circa Cronos (his first movie) so I figured this movie was gonna be a ride and then some.
The excess boob was, well, a lot. I was uncomfortable with Strickland’s whole sadist and harasser persona (even though Michael Shannon plays him. He’s one of my fave actors.)
I went to see it for the romance and got that in spades. Sally and Doug are so great and their chemistry is off the charts. Like, in the end, this is one of those movies where moviegoers need to accept the premise from the get go or deeply resent 90% of what happens on the screen.
For me, this movie was an A.
Thank you for warning about the cat. I won’t be seeing this movie.
Great review. Almost stood in long cold outdoor line to see it. Now I will wait. No hurting animals ever. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you for this review. I was really looking forward to seeing this but the gore factor has turned me off. Too bad as otherwise it sounds terrific.
Other reviews (and the trailer) had already tipped me that this was on the horror end of the drama/thriller spectrum, so basically no amount of romance or great acting was going to get me to go see it. Especially now that I know about the cat.
I JUST. DO. NOT. UNDERSTAND why writers ever think the audience needs to see/read violence against animals in order to get their point. Trust me, if you are even halfway close to being a decent writer, we will understand that bad people are bad and that bad things happen WITHOUT THAT EGREGIOUS SHIT.
Oooooh! I’m waiting to see this movie so much! Love Sally Hawkins, love del Toro and love 60-s movies! Hope it’ll get at least couple of Oscars!
As my husband said when we walked out of the film, “If you had told me as a kid that there would be a Stars Wars sequel but I would enjoy a romantic version of Creature from the Black Lagoon a thousand times more, I would said you were joking.”
This is one of the best films of the year for me. And I’m a cat lover who hates violence toward animals on the screen. Despises it. However, the scene makes a kind of sense? It’s not just violence for violence’s sake. I hope it’s not a spoiler to say several other cats go on to thrive.
I’m also a wimp when it comes to horror and gore and I don’t remember it being gratuitiously gruesome. I did close my eyes during a few scenes, however.
But this is such a beautiful film. So beautifully acted. And it’s a loving ode to films and filmmaking, and to fairy tales in general. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Some of the comments regarding animal cruelty or how you don’t need to have a “bad guy” hurt an animal for you to know he’s bad… I’m not sure if it helps or hurts at all, but that actually is not the situation that happens regarding the cat. Rather,
*SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SCROLL PAST TO AVOID SPOILERS*
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….. It is a situation that arises due to um, a large aquatic sea predator and a small terrestrial land predator being placed into close quarters with neither being properly prepared for the experience. It exists not to demonstrate how cruel anyone is, but to remind us that we are in fact dealing with another species. I totally understand if it’s still a deal breaker, there is gore and that kitty does not get a happy ending here, but it’s not an act of cruelty or torture but an act of panic and predation. And as stated, it’s very clearly telegraphed in advance so it’s fairly easy to close your eyes for that bit.
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*END SPOILERS*
Thanks, Nelly, I just saw this and wanted to comment that the scene with the cat wasn’t gratuitous cruelty at all…
SPOILER
SPACE
…it was due to an “alien” predator unsure of what was appropriate for it to eat, but assuming that the cat was just the right size for a meal, and being startled by the human reaction to that.
If torture squicks you, there’s plenty of it in this movie, but it wasn’t the context in that scene.