The Lobster is a black comedy set in a dystopian world where all single people are sent to a hotel where they have forty five days to find a partner otherwise they are transformed into an animal of their choosing to live the rest of their lives. David (Colin Farrell) discovers that his wife has left him for another man so he arrives at the hotel with his brother, a dog, and begins the countdown to finding somebody to spend his life with otherwise he will be turned into the animal of his choice which is a lobster as they have a long life cycle and because of his love for the sea.

The hotel is an awful place full of staged propaganda shows, almost militaristic daily rituals and full of regulations all of which are supposedly designed to enhance the possibility of developing relationships for example masturbation is forbidden and severely punished as a resident known as the lisping man (John C.Reilly) finds out, yet daily sexual stimulation by the maid is part of the routine. There is also a bonus round of sorts where residents go on daily hunts to capture ‘loners’, single people on the run who live in the nearby forest, and can extend their deadline by a day for each person captured.

It soon becomes apparent that finding a partner is not easy as there are expectations around compatibility, and one of David’s ‘friends’ known as the limping man (Ben Whishaw) in the hotel shows just how far people will go to ensure they are not transformed, followed by a series of tests afterwards before they are declared ready for return to society and when David’s time is running out he concocts a plan to find a partner regardless, but things don’t work out quite as expected.

Farrell is superb, in possibly his best performance to date, as David as his delivery of the script sounds almost forced giving the whole situation an almost dream like feel and when coupled with the voice over from Rachel Weisz you begin to wonder if this is an author telling a story or is it somebody recalling a real situation being told in flashback and this uncertainty last for well over half the movie giving it even more of a surreal feel which the tale itself is already doing a very good job of but at the same time the monotone delivery of the narrative seems no different than the conversation on screen so you are constantly unsure of the purpose of the narrator in the story.

I don’t want to give too much away in the review as there is so much which will surprise and shock in equal measures and most of the light hearted moments in a very dark movie are from the unexpected absurdity of how these single people are treated. There’s a performance from Lea Seydoux as the leader of the loners which is so dead pan it makes her appearance in Spectre look full of emotion but in this movie it was perfectly suited.

There is definitely a dig at society and how we are burdened with the expectations of life partners and children while being full of satire that is close enough to the bone to hit home. I enjoyed the movie when I watched it but now, having had a bit of time to digest it I think that this is one of the best movies I have seen in a number of years, it’s slow moving yet doesn’t drag as there’s always something happening, there’s unnecessary use of slo-mo but it sits perfectly with the strangeness of the situation and the fact that only the lead character is ever named adds to the eerie feel of the film. If you are looking for some quick entertaining then don’t try this movie but I can only give it a high recommendation as it’s a superb movie which really gets you thinking long after the credits have rolled.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7.5 Out Of 10