The Shape of Water (2017)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro | 119 minutes | adventure, drama | Actors: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones, David Hewlett, Nick Searcy, Stewart Arnott, Nigel Bennett, Lauren Lee Smith, Martin Roach, Allegra Fulton, John Kapelos, Morgan Kelly, Marvin Kaye , Dru Viergever, Wendy Lyon

Guillermo del Toro is a master at it; mixing elements of horror and poetry into an idiosyncratic and visually overwhelming modern fairy tale. The Mexican filmmaker has never hidden his fascination for monsters, just take a look at his resume. He sees these anthropomorphic beings as symbols for a great, sometimes almost divine power. All of his films unmistakably bear Del Toro’s signature, but there are, in his own words, three that stand out. “For twenty-five years I have worked on very remarkable stories, with movement, colours, light and shadow”, he said when he received his first Golden Globe in 2018 for ‘The Shape of Water’ (2017). “In exactly three cases, these strange stories, these fables, saved my life. First ‘Devil’s Backbone’ (2001), then ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006) and now ‘The Shape of Water’. For us directors, these are not just new titles in our filmography. We’ve made a deal with a certain inefficient devil who will take three years of our lives in exchange for a new addition to IMDb. Those films are part of our biography and they are very much alive.” This quote is indicative of the intensity of Del Toro’s working method and also underlines how close his films are to himself. With the breathtaking ‘The Shape of Water’, the Mexican master film-maker strings together the prizes; in addition to the Golden Globes (four of the seven nominations were cashed in), the film also won the Golden Lion in Venice and various accolades from people in the field. In addition, ‘The Shape of Water’ has been nominated for no fewer than thirteen Oscars. All those praises are entirely justified, because Del Toro skilfully weaves together the genres to arrive at a modern classic that serves as a fine example of cinema as it was once intended.

Giles (the always great Richard Jenkins) tells us right away in the prologue that we can expect a romantic fairy tale. Watching a submerged apartment with furniture floating by, he points out the story, long ago, of the last days when a voiceless princess held sway until a monster tried to destroy it all. As the story begins, we discover that in 1962 Giles lives with his cats above an ailing movie theater and below his one and only girlfriend, Elisa (Sally Hawkins). Gay Giles has recently lost his job as a poster artist and spends his days watching classic musicals and eating bright green pastries at the lunchroom of the man he is secretly in love with. Elisa, like him, lives quite isolated. They are both lonely, but not alone. What makes it even more difficult for her is that she cannot speak and is therefore condemned to communicate with sign language. She has a job on the night cleaning crew at a secret government lab. Mind you, we are in the middle of the Cold War and the ‘Space Race’ with the Russians. Perhaps Elisa was hired mainly because she won’t talk past her mouth. How different it is for her colleague friend Zelda (a delightful Octavia Spencer), who can’t keep her lips together for a moment and can chatter imperturbably for hours about her husband’s quirks.

One day, a new top-secret cargo is brought into a water tank. Elisa is immediately fascinated and cannot contain her curiosity. On her first encounter with the anthropomorphic creature (in this case, half-man, half-amphibian, inspired by the monster in the 1954 classic horror film ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’ and played by Del Toro regular Doug Jones), the two instantly one click. It turns out that they share not only their inability to talk, but also their fondness for hard-boiled eggs and Benny Goodman records. Elisa must be on her guard though, as the overambitious government agent Strickland (an old-fashioned villain Michael Shannon), who single-handedly fished the creature out of the Amazon, has very different plans and terrifies him with vicious electric shocks. Also dr. Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), a marine biologist with a dual agenda, takes an extraordinary interest in Elisa’s newly arrived soul mate. Together with Giles, and later Zelda, Elisa devises a plan to save the sea creature from Strickland’s hands.

With ‘The Shape of Water’ Guillermo del Toro, who wrote the screenplay with Vanessa Taylor, takes a lot of work. Romantic fairy tale, Cold War thriller, monster movie, adventure movie; the film unites it all, adds a pleasant dose of humor in perspective (via Jenkins and Spencer) and a touch of social commentary (via the characters of the same Jenkins and Spencer, who just like Elisa represent outcasts) and en passant also brings an ode to cinema, with various references – some more subtle than others – to (classic) genre films and musicals. Del Toro manages to create an enchanting piece of cinema from all these elements that will captivate even the most cynical film viewer, because despite this richness and layering, he always keeps the focus on the budding friendship between Elisa and the amphibious man. And, moreover, knows how to depict it tenderly, disarmingly and truly. That is also due to the incredibly handsome performance of Sally Hawkins, for whom Del Toro wrote the role especially. Hawkins has a certain appeal, a beauty that is rather unconventional. She often looks a bit unworldly and vulnerable and that’s exactly what this role asks of her. And how clever it is to make yourself clear without words, voice or intonation, but purely with mimicry, facial expressions and appearance (this also applies to Jones in fact)! Incidentally, the entire cast does a fantastic job, with Jenkins and Spencer – both Oscar nominated – as the two characters who keep their feet firmly on the ground and thereby prevent the film from going too far into the fantastic. Shannon’s Strickland seems like a one-sided figure, but his character is also more layered than you might think at first glance. Stuhlbarg acts as the mysterious Dr. Hoffstetler is not inferior to the rest.

Guillermo del Toro receives all the credit for this modern masterpiece, but also the team around him deserves all the credit; the beautiful production design of Paul Denham Austerberry, the elegant cinematography of Dan Laustsen, the careful editing of Sidney Wolinksy and the rich score of Alexandre Desplat. Thanks in part to them, Del Toro is able to match and eventually even surpass the artistic level of Spanish-language classics ‘Devil’s Backbone’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. He poured his heart and soul into this film, working out every aspect in great detail – take, for example, the way in which themes like ‘water’ and the color green come across in all their facets, down to the filthy pastry of the lunchroom and the flamboyant new one. Strickland’s Cadillac. This film breathes love; love for the story, for the characters, but above all for film in its purest form. And while it’s not entirely clear to what extent the story is Del Toro’s original (there are several persistent rumors of plagiarism), the way the illustrious Mexican filmmaker has gone about it is unparalleled. ‘The Shape of Water’ is film as film is meant to be; already (one of) the best film(s) of the year!