Le homard

You know how there is pressure to conform, find a partner and live a "normal life"? You know how those who don't conform appear to live unsatisfying lives whilst protesting that they are not? This film takes an hour to say that, then the second hour offers no answers and has an ambiguous and unsatisfying ending.

Weird, whacky & wicked but equally dull, sterile & vapid, The Lobster is a strange beast that actually begins quite well but tumbles down the road after the halfway mark to conclude on a rather uninteresting note. The concept is no doubt intriguing and it takes its time to make us familiar to the society inhabiting its tale but all of it doesn't amount to much in the end & it fails to leave any lasting impression.

Set in a dystopian future, The Lobster presents a world in which single people are arrested & taken to a hotel where they are obliged to find a matching partner within 45 days or they are transformed into animals & released into the woods. The plot follows David who arrives at the hotel for the same reason but his endeavours of finding a mate before his time is over ends far more tragically than he expected.

Co-written & directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster marks his English-language debut and the idea & inspiration behind it is both clever & admirable. The sequences taking place in the hotel are nicely carried out but its second half lacks the same level of creativity that's present in the first half. The excitement goes missing once the protagonist leaves the hotel and from there on, it just limps throughout its remaining runtime.

The hotel is neatly maintained but it also has a creepy vibe about it. Camera movements are fluid, colour hues wonderfully compliment its overcast ambiance and lighting seems natural for the most part. Editing allows the plot to unfold at an unhurried pace but the whole story feels twice as long because of that, with no idea of where it's headed. Last, the background score is just as odd as the story's content and is intermittently utilised.

Coming to the performances, The Lobster features a fine cast in Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw & John C. Reilly and most of them are simply bland & lifeless in their respective roles. It can be argued that the spiritless rendition of these scripted people was deliberate but it doesn't really help in enriching the experience, at all. The deadpan wit is occasionally amusing but it's also too easy to get frustrated by whatever is happening.

On an overall scale, The Lobster is an uncanny mix of bizarre ideas that, in its effort to play with multiple things at once, may end up drifting many of its viewers. While I found nothing lovable about it, its parody of the society that gives way too much credit to companionship, in addition to the dig it takes at those match-making algorithms which rely on similar traits & likeness factor is one aspect I liked but in all seriousness, The Lobster is too mediocre to be of any significance.

I had heard reviews of The Lobster and, while sounding interesting, it also sounded odd enough to delay me in getting round to seeing it. Like many have said, the plot is weird; single people are sent to a hotel and given a period of time to find a match or else they will be turned into the creature of their choosing and released to the wild. Those struggling can add days to their stay by being successful on hunts for those singles who have broken free and live as collective individuals in the woods.

The concept is cleverly constructed so that it is weirdly convincing despite its utter absurdity. Within this the film satirizes relationships, singles – in particular the extremes of those two situations. The push for companionship, with its common ground, and its rituals, and the digs at elements of life such as children distracting from conflict. Perhaps it hit a bit too close to home with its regimented rituals, and awkward neediness. On the other side the extreme version of singlehood is also dug at once we are in the woods. It is not as clever as some would tell you, nor as smart, but it is certainly interesting, darkly funny, and pretty engaging throughout. It doesn't pull it off totally, but I enjoyed it from start to finish – its oddity runs through from the ideas, the performances, down into the specific dialogue. Having such a great cast helps, but the tightness of creative vision throughout is what holds it all together. As odd and slightly unsuccessful as it is, it is still well worth watching.

The Lobster is a surreal deadpan comedy about the strangeness of social pressures and modern relationships.

The setting is a bleak, tightly controlled hotel on the coast of Ireland. David (Colin Farrell), a recently divorced Architect, is given 40 days to find a partner or else be transformed into an animal of his choosing; in this case, a lobster. Sound strange? That's just the first 10 minutes. Guests of the hotel are subjected to routine trips to shoot 'loners' with tranquillisers, and awkward high-school dances to entice singles to mingle. As David's days start running out, he decides to feign common interest with a heartless woman in order to escape his fate. But can he pull it off?

Farrell really hits the mark with this role, displaying awkward machismo and fragile humility in equal measure. His comedic timing is matched only by his supporting cast that includes John C. Reilly, Ashley Jensen, and Olivia Coleman. Rachel Weisz is also spot-on as the short-sighted woman.

The Lobster has just about everything you'd want from a film. It's unpredictable, it's offbeat, and it's laugh-out-loud funny. But it's most impressive feature is the subtext - it manages to reflect how odd our own modern-day social pressures are. How loneliness is feared, how individuality loses out to the mainstream system, and how relationships have to be deemed 'legitimate' by some higher order. There's plenty to talk about with this film, and I'll definitely be seeing it again to delve a little deeper....

I went into The Lobster expecting something smart and darkly funny. What I got was two hours of monotone dialogue, lifeless characters, and a story that mistakes awkward silence for brilliance. It's the kind of movie that feels like it's laughing at you for trying to understand it.

The premise could have worked. A society where single people get turned into animals if they don't find a mate sounds like an interesting setup for satire. Instead, it's delivered with all the warmth of a hospital waiting room. Every scene drags. Every conversation feels like it was written by someone who has never met a real person.

The acting is intentionally robotic, which might have been the point, but it makes the whole thing unbearable to watch. Colin Farrell does his best, but even he looks like he's wondering why he's in this movie. The supporting cast speaks like AI prototypes running low on battery.

Visually, it's fine. The cinematography is clean and the pacing is slow enough to make you notice it. But style doesn't save it. There's no emotional core, no payoff, and no reason to care about anyone or anything that happens.

People call it "thought provoking." Maybe it is, if the thought you're having is how much time you've wasted. By the end, I didn't feel enlightened or challenged.

The Lobster isn't deep. It's just dull. It takes a strange idea, removes the humor, removes the heart, and then stretches it into a long, cold exercise in endurance. I'm glad some people liked it, but for me, it was pure cinematic punishment.

Final verdict: I wouldn't watch it again if I were the lobster.