Review 445: The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water is beautifully crafted, gorgeously shot and wonderfully told romantic fantasy film and a true testament to the talents of Guillermo del Toro and Sally Hawkins.

In 1962 Baltimore at the height of the Cold War, Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a mute janitor who  works at a secret government laboratory and alone lives in an apartment above a cinema. Her life is changed forever when a one day, she discovers the labs classified secret - a mysterious, scaled creature known as the "Amphibian Man" (Doug Jones) from South America that lives in a water tank. As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a ruthless government agent Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) a mysterious marine biologist Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Micheal Stuhlberg) and that they're fates may be tied together.

The plot is equally as emotionally absorbing as it is beautifuly creative. del Toro has described this film as “a fairy tale for troubled times” and I see what he means. He transports us back to a time when tensions were really high for the Soviets and the Americans and slap bam in the middle of this conflict, he places a highly unconventional yet tender and touching love story.
But if you peel away the bodywork and look at the films skeleton and look beyond the films' Cold War backdrop and creature feature atmosphere, it’s a fabulously told of unconditional love and finding friends among the shadows.
There’s a simplicity to the film but there’s also a profound sense of beauty and emotion that really helps to elevate the films story, characters and relationships.
del Toro and the relationship between Elisa and the Amphibian Man love is the salvation to a lonely world.
Every character in this film is a loner: Elisa is lonely because she feels that not everyone around her can understand what she’s saying. Her best friend Zelda (Octavia Spencer) is lonely because while she’s doing all the talking for Elisa at work, when she’s at home, she’s practically ignored by her husband, Giles (Richard Jenkins), Elisa’s neighbour is isolated due to his sexuality. Even Strickland is isolated because he sees himself as being above his present circumstances and he feels alienated by his surroundings. Elisa, Zelda and Giles connect with each other due to them being loners

del Toro has stated that is inspired by his childhood memories of watching the 1954 black-and-white, monster horror movie Creature from the Black Lagoon, finding his young heart longing for the Gill-man and Julie Adams' Kay Lawrence to succeed in their romance. He's also stated he felt the same way about other classic movie monsters such as King Kong and Frankenstein. So The Shape of Water began out of reimagining this classic monster story by posing the profound question: What if Beauty fell for the Beast?

Matching the films beautiful written and told story are the films simply stunning visual aesthetics which are a testament to Guillermo del Toro talents as a visual artist who can creates immersive and visually gorgeous worlds as well as storyteller. del Toro's direction is poised and precise, crafting an atmosphere that is equally as mysterious and dangerous as it is romantic. The cinematography is splendid and captures the grim, clunky environment of the 60's.
The production design (recreating the 60's as well as the secret government lab that Elisa works at) is stupendous and immerses you into the world del Toro's created all the more. The version of the 60’s del Toro has cooked up is a dreamy, gritty version of the 60’s with lots of green and blue tints almost as if (as Clarisse Loughery eloquently put it) it was a alternate version of 60’s Baltimore that exists at the bottom of the ocean.
The costumes are magnificent, the score by Alexandre Desplat is gorgeously beautiful, the make is rich and beautifully detailed, the props are superb and are also beautifully detailed and textured, the lighting is terrific and captures the dark, unclean environments of the lab and the ending has a strong sense of poignancy and a surprising level of ambiguity too it.

It's a triumph for the acting, Sally Hawkins delivers one of her best performances to date in this film playing Elisa Esposito, because her character is a mute, she has practically No lines of dialogue. So she has to say whatever she’s thinking using sign language and gestures and Hawkins’ strong body langue and facial expressions really help to sell the vulnerability and verisimilitude required for such a part.
The relationship that develops between her and the monster is one that

Guillermo del Toro regular Doug Jones has the audacious task of playing the “Amphibian Man” which he pulls off exceptionally well. His body language,

He brings out the humanity in the monster  He is the romantic hearthrob of the film. He's very much the leading man as Sally Hawkins' Elisa Esposito is the leading lady.

Richard Jenkins is very strong playing Giles, Elisa’s next-door neighbour and a closeted man who has not disclosed his sexuality. He too feels unfulfilled, not just due to his closeted nature but also his position as a struggling illustrator.

Octavia Spencer is very assertively powerful playing Zelda, Elisa's co-worker and friend at the lab who also serves as her interpreter. What's interesting about her is that she's a woman of colour in a time when black people faced much prejudice. The touching aspect of her and Elisa's friendship is that it beautifully coneys a relationship between two different social mores in a time when people were much less tolerant of each others differences and yet inspite of that there's a profound bond between them, they're very protective of each other. There's nothing cynical about their friendship, there's nothing beyond that.

Michael Shannon is most intimidating in this film playing the ruthless Col. Richard Strickland
He's very much a classic cold war villain, to him the creature they keep locked up in the lab is just that - a creature to be studied and that can give them a push in combating the Russians. The whole situation is about control and science and eventually getting a leg up on the competition.
Part of what makes him so intimidating is how much of perfectionist he is, he wants to be perfect which fuels his drive to be invulnerable coupled with his dissatisfaction with his private life and pressure from his superiors. He appears picture perfect but is in fact a beast inside.
Strickland is turned on by Elisa because she can't speak

Also effective in the film is Micheal Stuhlberg as Dr. Robert Hoffstetler

The Shape of Water is unquestionably a love story for troubled times, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.