The Lobster starts out as a surreal farce in a stuffy English seaside hotel, where singles check in and must find a partner within 45 days — or else be turned into an animal of their choice. Starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, the film is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who brought us Dogtooth and Alps and has a very peculiar taste in brutality.
A slightly chubby Farrell arrives with his sheepdog (formerly his brother) and chums up on the hunt for women with Ben Whishaw. John C Reilly is also a cheery guest, but breaking the rules results in a punishment involving a toaster, and the hotel manager is Olivia Colman at her most cheerfully sadistic. Lanthimos brilliantly spoofs the Fawlty Towers atmosphere of such places, before taking us out into the forest where a group of singletons live, refusing the government-mandated coupling up.
Farrell’s character thinks he may soon have to metamorphose into a lobster, until he meets Weisz in the woods and realises there may be a way out. But the feral “Loners” in the wood also have a set of inexplicable rules about no kissing or contact — imposed by an icy Léa Seydoux, so this is not the place to fall in love. Lanthimos’s dialogue is oddly stiff, but the Greek director has made his first English film with aplomb. The Lobster will not be for everyone, but it has a certain bonkers panache.
Yorgos Lanthimos, 15, 118min