This is definitely a film you need to see for yourself to
understand its power and spellbinding beauty. From the tag line it sounds more
like some strange sci fi porn-mute woman falls in love with an amphibian man.
This in fact does happen but Guillermo del Toro manages to craft this story
into a magical, unconventional, timeless fable.
Set in the early 1960’s during the time of the Cold War and the Space Race, a top secret scientific lab in Baltimore is
delivered with a mysterious sea creature from the Amazon to be used for
experimentation. The experiments are overseen by a cruel government official Richard
Strickland (Michael Shannon) who believes the creature should be picked apart
to discover its secrets in order to have one over on the Russians.
Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) a mute cleaning lady in
charge of cleaning the lab in which the creature is being held is horrified to
witness the brutality and violence Strickland is using towards it. Curious about the creature Elisa begins to
form a connection with it/him by giving him hard boiled eggs and playing
music-some welcome respite from the daily torture that he/it must endure. Their
connection grows from sympathy to romance as Elisa discovers they have more in
common than she had imagined, as she beautifully puts it ‘He does not know that I am
incomplete’.
Elisa’s gentle nature extends beyond the lab as she is a
trusted friend to her lonely closeted gay neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) and
her fellow African American co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer)-a listening ear
to two members from marginalised groups at the time.
‘The Other’ is a major theme in this film and Del Toro draws
parallels between the 60’s and the political climate in the States today. Strickland
makes a powerful speech stating the sea creature was not born in the form of
Jesus and therefore does not deserve to exist the way everyone else does. Del
Toro also highlights how ignorance breeds fear and characters are divided
between those who sympathise with the creature and those who want to destroy it.
This thought provoking film is a sci-fi take on Beauty and
the Beast. It is magical but brutal, tender but violent and it challenges its
audience to see beyond convention. In
the final mesmerising narrated scene of Elisa and her amphibian lover dancing
in the water I was left measuring the shape of my own tears.
