Film Review: The Shape of Water (2017)
In the 1970s, the present era—at least for optimists willing to dismiss the nuclear holocaust, ecological cataclysm, and energy collapse—was imagined through visions in which flying cars or tourist trips to Mars and Venus would be commonplace. Most of these optimists were typically fans of science fiction. However, few among them could likely have imagined that precisely in this era, a film of this genre would win the Oscar for Best Picture. Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is not only the first sci-fi film to boast the most prestigious golden statuette but also a work with an impeccable genre pedigree. Del Toro’s film, in fact, emerged as a sort of remake or alternative version of Creature from the Black Lagoon, the classic black-and-white B-movie by Jack Arnold from 1954, whose titular character is a humanoid amphibian from the Amazon jungle who inexplicably feels drawn to the scientist played by Julia Adams. According to Del Toro himself, he was disappointed that the original film concluded in line with audience expectations and the censorship standards of the time, and thus The Shape of Water was conceived as an attempt to use a similar plot and characters for a love story.
The film is set in Baltimore in 1962, and the protagonist is Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a woman who, due to an unexplained neck injury from childhood, has been mute and works as a cleaner in a secret government laboratory. She lives alone in an apartment, and her only friends are Zelda (Octavia Spencer), a Black female colleague from work, and Giles (Robert Jenkins), a middle-aged gay illustrator and neighbour who serves as the film’s narrator. One day, the ambitious Colonel Strickland (Michael Shannon) brings a mysterious humanoid creature (Doug Jones) from the Amazon jungle to the laboratory, which he and his superiors believe will give America the upper hand over the Soviets in the Cold War. By chance, Elisa encounters the mysterious creature and gradually befriends it, finding in it a kindred spirit, partly because both struggle with human communication. However, Elisa’s friendship with the amphibian creature threatens Strickland’s plan to subject the creature—which he had previously tortured with electric shocks—to vivisection. Upon learning of this, Elisa resolves on a dangerous plan to rescue her friend from the laboratory and attempt to hide him in her apartment, with assistance from Giles, Zelda, and also Dr Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), a scientist employed at the laboratory who is not who he claims to be.
Although The Shape of Water belongs to sci-fi, one might expect purists who would gladly strip it of this genre classification, preferring instead to place it within the waters of “pure” fantasy. Certainly, Del Toro’s own words would support this, as he described his film as a sort of “fairy tale for adults.” However, for Del Toro, such meta-details as genre or even plot were less interesting to him than the opportunity to once again prove to himself and the public that he can create a visually striking work. The Shape of Water was made with a relatively modest budget by today’s Hollywood standards, and the plot is spatially and temporally quite confined, yet few viewers will fail to notice the exceptional attention to set design, costume design, and the remarkable creativity in crafting scenes. This is evident from the very beginning, when Elisa’s seemingly mundane apartment transforms into a magical place in her dream, where she sees it flooded. There are numerous such examples throughout the film, most notably the scene where Elisa imagines herself as a Hollywood musical star, enhanced by the Oscar-winning score of Alexandre Desplat. However, Del Toro complements his “fairy tale for adults” concept with adult content, including scenes of torture, mutilation, and explicit bloodshed, as well as those in which the protagonist appears nude or satisfies her sexual needs, either alone or in ways that would have been deemed “a fate worse than death” in the era of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The Shape of Water is a beautiful and exceptionally captivating film, further enhanced by a diverse and varied cast. Among them, Sally Hawkins stands out the most, who not only must portray a character who remains silent throughout but also has the additional task of making appealing a character that, to put it mildly, does not conform to today’s standard parameters of female beauty. Hawkins succeeds admirably in this, and she and Jones—who specialises in non-human and similar masked roles—form one of the most impressive romantic duos Hollywood has produced in recent years. All this effort, however, is compromised by the excessive striving in The Shape of Water to secure an “Oscar,” and even Del Toro’s undeniable talent cannot conceal the almost self-parodic clichés and formulas. That the goal was to win the golden statuette becomes evident through the insistence on nostalgia for the “good old days”—which always appeals to the gerontocratic members of the Academy—as well as characters who, despite the efforts of talented actors, sometimes come across as fulfilling “politically correct” quotas, including the protagonist (a woman, disabled) and supporting characters (a homosexual, an African American woman, an illegal immigrant). Shannon, meanwhile, once again finds himself in a rather thankless role as a character who, due to his racism, sadism, and penchant for depraved sex, should be a demonic villain but instead comes across as a parodic stereotype. The film’s positive impression is also marred by the screenplay, which, due to several underutilised subplots, feels incomplete. Unnecessary is also the subplot about Soviet spies, which, presumably in line with the New Cold War established by Hollywood’s propaganda imperatives, is meant to remind viewers that Russians are the bad guys—that their agents are undermining America and the free world. Despite this, The Shape of Water is more than watchable, though it is difficult to shake the impression that its “Oscar-winning” achievement would have been less contentious had it been made two decades ago or earlier.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
LeoDex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9