The Shape of Water is a dramatic, romantic, fantasy, horror film, which is an odd mashup of genres. It’s the horror aspects that provide the shock value, and this borders on offensive for me. I hated Guillermo del Toro’s prior film Pan’s Labyrinth for this very reason. “Hate” is a strong word and one I wouldn’t apply to many (if any) other movies, but Pan’s Labyrinth is a rare film that made me angry when I left the theatre. I will never see it again under any circumstances, because it offered up a rich and dark children’s fairytale, then lurched into torture-porn horror. It was disgustingly graphic, and you don’t get to jerk me around like that. It isn’t amusing, appropriate, relevant, entertaining, interesting, or visionary. It’s actually repugnant and perverted to “go there” with a fantasy story told from a child’s point of view. That’s abusive filmmaking on a psychological level. I’m not desensitized enough to give it a pass, either. The only reason I bothered to see The Shape of Water was that it won the Oscar for Best Picture, and I was told in advance that the horror wasn’t (quite) as graphic. Plus, this wasn’t a child-oriented tale, which makes a world of difference.
The Shape of Water is a good film, and del Toro is a skilled director, but once again, we have gratuitous graphic horror. It’s used sparingly this time, as an adolescent prank to elicit cheap thrills from audiences and Oscar-voters alike, who apparently must be shaken awake by over-the-top violence, if you buy into del Toro’s mindset, in order to make them feel an emotional punch. The film is powerful enough without these moments. Personally, I don’t need to see a man dragged on the ground like a bowling ball by the bullet holes in his face or another man tear off two of his own stinking, gangrenous fingers and toss them onto a living-room rug.
The Shape of Water plays like an upscaled, A-list reimagining of The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Everything has been raised a notch in this interpretation, not just the darker elements. It’s the romance and sexual awakening, the humor, the dramatic tension, the intrigue—and yes, the writing, direction, acting, and all other aspects of filmmaking. It’s clear del Toro loves classic movies, and he gives us central characters who love them as well. The Shape of Water is a Fox film, so we see musical clips of many old stars from the 20th Century Fox roster, including Betty Grable, Sonja Henie, Alice Faye, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Shirley Temple, and Carmen Miranda. During one sublime, black-and-white dream sequence, an entire set has been reconstructed to emulate RKO’s Follow the Fleet, starring Fred and Ginger. There is much to admire and savor here. It may sound like I’m talking about several different films, but I’m not. It’s all from the same movie.
The story takes place in 1962 Baltimore. Elisa Esposito (Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins) is a mute who works as a cleaning woman for a government lab facility with her friend Zelda (Octavia Spencer, also nominated). Elisa has been mute as long as she can remember. She was found by the river when she was a baby, with a trio of slash wounds on her neck, and she communicates through sign language. Elisa lives in an apartment above a movie theatre, next door to an aging commercial artist named Giles (Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins). Giles is the one who introduces Elisa to classic movies and movie stars while he paints illustrations for magazine ads—a dying art form in the era of photography. With a self-deprecating sense of humor, Giles is also a cat-lover and closet homosexual who has great difficulty playing the corporate game and relating to others.
Enter Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), the villain of this piece. He transfers in to take charge of a top-secret “asset” acquired from a South American river. His team’s mission is to study this creature for potential use in the space race against Russia. While cleaning at work, Elisa discovers that this trapped, rare amphibian (Doug Jones) has humanlike qualities and can communicate with her through sign language. She also learns that Strickland has been torturing the creature in order to tame it and dominate it. Among Strickland’s assembled scientists is Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), who is actually a Soviet spy named Dimitri, posing as a German doctor. Hoffstetler discovers the growing bond between Elisa and the amphibian man, and he is fascinated by it.
Later, Strickland welcomes five-star Air Force General Frank Hoyt (Nick Searcy) and updates him on their lack of progress, recommending they vivisect the “asset” to learn how it can breathe on land as well as in water. When Hoffstetler, in turn, relays this information to his Russian superiors, he is ordered to euthanize the creature immediately to prevent the Americans from learning more.
Meanwhile, Elisa, Giles, and Zelda plot to rescue the amphibian man and bring him to Elisa’s apartment. Hoffstetler discovers this plan, and, breaking away from his mission, he helps them by providing the necessary minerals to supplement a bathtub full of saltwater. It’s where the creature will be kept for the time being until he can be released a few days later into a canal that feeds into the ocean whenever it rains. General Hoyt then shows up in Strickland’s office and gives him just 36 hours to retrieve the creature, or his military career and life will be over.
After eating the head off of one of Giles’ cats, the creature escapes but doesn’t make it further than the movie theatre downstairs. When he returns to the apartment, all is forgiven, which is somewhat out of character for an austere cat-lover like Giles. As a gesture of good will, the creature puts his webbed hand on Giles’s balding head, then moves it to some accidental cuts on his arm. By morning, the wounds have completely healed, and Giles’s hair is growing. At this point, Elisa and the amphibian man have fallen in love and have sex in her flooded bathroom.
The rest of the story is a race against time to escape from the bad guy. In truth, this is a teal-tinted “beauty and the beast” tale that challenges our interpretations of both beauty and beast. It’s about the “freaks” among us, the different ones trying to survive and find their way to a safe and peaceful existence. That’s why this film resonates. It isn’t just the amphibian man who is struggling to breathe, it’s Elisa, Giles, Zelda, and Hoffstetler—the ones who don’t fit the normal mold and can’t accept their current environment as the solution.
There’s a lot to love about this movie even though the graphic horror repels me. It’s a solid choice for the Academy’s top award and only the second film in either the fantasy or horror genres to win Best Picture (after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Silence of the Lambs, respectively). I look forward to revisiting it in the future.
The Shape of Water
Director | Guillermo del Toro |
Primary Cast | Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones, David Hewlett, Nick Searcy |
Familiar Faces | none (no repeat performers from the previous winning films) |
Firsts | None to speak of |
Total Wins | 4 (Picture, Director, Production Design, Score) |
Total Nominations | 13 (Picture, Director, Actress: Sally Hawkins, Supporting Actor: Richard Jenkins, Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, Screenplay: Original, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Editing, Sound: Editing, Sound: Mixing, Score) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |