The Shape of Water
5 stars
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon
Duration: 123 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd
In director Guillermo del Toro’s own words, “Water takes the shape of whatever is holding it at the time and although water can be so gentle, it’s also the most powerful and malleable force in the universe. That’s also love, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what shape we put love into, it becomes that, whether it’s man, woman or creature.”
Powerful and poetic words from a director known for his powerful and poetic films, who a decade or so after gifting the world with the magical, mysterious fairy tale Pan’s Labyrinth, ups his own ante with the enchanting and enigmatic The Shape of Water, a boldly unique romantic drama featuring a superb ensemble led by Sally Hawkins.
From its opening sequence – an eerie pan through a labyrinthine property that is completely submerged underwater - to its emotional, heart-rending finale, The Shape of Water grips the audience’s heartstrings and never lets go. It is set in 1960s America and the protagonist is mute cleaning lady Elisa (Sally Hawkins). Elisa works in a very secretive, high- security underground lab, populated by harried scientists, military personnel and bullying government agents, but when a mysterious amphibious and humanoid creature is brought in to the lab for a series of experiments, Elise makes an emotional connection with it.
Only a master of del Toro’s abilities can spin a tale containing such disparate ingredients as Cold War paranoia, Soviet spies, B-movie monsters, a soupcon of movie musicals, and a pinch of comedy into a blissful romance between an alien sea-creature and a mute woman, but it works; a love story structured on a foundation of imaginative writing and richly-drawn characters, and production values that capture the mood of the era in a realistic manner tinged with otherworldly elements.
Only a master of del Toro’s abilities can spin a tale containing such disparate ingredients
Mute from childhood after a horrific incident, Elisa lives a quiet, isolated life. Her only friends are her neighbour Giles, an out-of-work artist, and her co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer). Elisa is a creature of habit, waking up at the same time each day; preparing her breakfast while having a bath; and heading off to work at odd hours of the day and night, unobtrusively going about her cleaning job.
She is more than capable of looking after herself, in every way. Yet, her encounter with the mysterious man-fish hybrid brings her into her own, awakening in her feelings of love of lust she has never felt before, leading her to a relationship with a creature whose previous brief experience of humans was one of violence and pain.
What emerges is a poignant relationship set against a backdrop of coldness and suspicion that projects a message of hope and optimism told by two beings who don’t communicate with dialogue. Yet, they do not need dialogue, and intimate gestures suffice, from Elisa’s ingenious use of hard-boiled eggs to extend the hand of friendship to the more intimate scenes, which in someone else’s hands could’ve been clumsy and repellent, yet which are handled tenderly and persuasively by del Toro.
Hawkins is simply radiant in the role. When we meet Elisa, she is a meek, unremarkable woman whose disability seemingly does not get in the way of her quiet ordered life.
Yet, she blossoms wholeheartedly when this ‘thing’ comes into her life. That she has no dialogue to work with is of little consequence to the actress who uses her open, pleasant and welcoming face as a canvas on which she effortlessly paints myriad expressions of joy, fear, anger and solitude and more.
It is a performance of great beauty, and hadn’t she been up against certain winner Frances McDormand, I have no doubt that the Academy award tonight would have gone to her.
Del Toro has mustered an excellent ensemble to support Hawkins. Spencer can always be relied upon to bring massive heart to any project and she delivers the goods here as Elise’s best friend (and reluctant co-conspirator). Richard Jenkins is simply delightful as her closeted best friend and neighbour; Michael Shannon uses his tall, looming, presence to menacing effect as ruthless government agent Richard Strickland, and Michael Stuhlbarg is Dr Robert Hoffstetler, the sympathetic scientist with a dark secret.
Some words for often unsung hero Doug Jones, the actor who takes on the shape and form of the Amphibian Man. In a career spanning 30 years, Jones has taken on myriad roles, pretty much always under elaborate prosthetics and heavy make-up and delivered startling performances on both big and small screens, (including that of Lead Gentlemen in Hush, Buffy fans).
He has often worked with del Toro in the past and, here, he gives a performance full of heart; as this large, scaly, often violent creature gives in to the tenderness and warmth offered him by Elisa.
Also showing
Finding your Feet – A middle-class snob on the eve of retirement takes refuge with her bohemian sister after she discovers her husband is having an affair with her best friend.