(2.5 / 4)
The Shape of Water is Guillermo Del Toro’s latest film and recently won several accolades during the 2018 Oscars including the highly coveted Best Picture award. I have been a fan of Del Toro’s work since the similarly celebrated Pan’s Labyrinth, which was released all the way back in 2007. I was especially fond of Pan’s Labyrinth due to the way in which the film blended classic fairytale themes and aesthetics with a real-life sense of grittiness. This fusion could best be described as featuring sweet sincere moments that wouldn’t be out of place in the latest live action Disney adaptation, but the subsequent scene could contain grisly moments such as a man’s skull being blown away in a manner that makes the violent acts all the more unsettling than if the entirety of the film were this brutal.
The Shape of Water continues this idea that real life villains can be even more monstrous than those presented in fables. A xenophobic FBI agent with no qualms about inflicting pain on innocent beings for the sake of his ambition can be more terrifying than the big bad wolf seeking to eat a little girl in a red hood. Despite this tonal choice being effective throughout it works to the film’s detriment as the effort to reflect the real world somewhat taints the overarching theme of true love taking many different forms.
The story is set during the Cold War in 1962 as we follow the life of Elisa (Sally Hawkins) a lonely mute custodian working for a top-secret government operated laboratory. Elisa is a seemingly content individual with a mundane daily routine, until one day that routine is disrupted with the arrival of something alien to the lab. An aquatic creature that was captured by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) is brought to the lab with the hope of learning more about this organism’s genetic makeup. While performing her janitorial work, Elisa encounters this amphibious creature and strikes up an immediate emotional bond with him. When she learns that Colonel Strickland is authorized to dissect the creature in order to learn more about his nature, Elisa sets out with the aid of her friends Giles (Richard Jenkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) to free the creature from the secure lab. Little does Elisa know that both the Russian and U.S. governments will go to extreme measures to ensure that neither side acquires more knowledge of this organism’s origins.
Much like Del Toro’s past work, The Shape of Water is a visual feast for the eyes, and for that alone the film is worth viewing. From the very start of the film I felt enamored with the world being portrayed and felt as though I wanted to interact with it more than the film allowed. The musical score along with the vibrant shades of green present in many of the shots meant to evoke the amphibious creature’s appearance perfectly sets the tone of Elisa’s unconventional world. The performances in this film are outstanding across the board as well. Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins provide excellent supporting performances that are both heartfelt and nuanced, however this is Sally Hawkins’ film as she provides a fearless performance in which she conveys her undying devotion to this underwater creature with simply a glance. Hawkins completely sold the idea of Elisa being kind hearted and terrified as her gentle demeanor slowly changes into a frantic protector once she learns of the government’s intentions for the creature.
Michael Shannon also deserves recognition as he turns in a terrifying performance as Colonel Strickland. There were times during the film in which I would feel my pulse quicken when he would appear on screen as the character exuded menace and cruelty from the moment he first appeared. Despite being acted masterfully by Michael Shannon, the character is written without substantial motivation for his actions other than a drive to be successful by conventional standards of the time period and as a result the character comes off as a two-dimensional villain.
It is in fact these types of one-sided writing decisions that keeps The Shape of Water from becoming an instant classic and instead as more of a squandered opportunity. The tale doesn’t provide much in the form of presenting two sides of the moral dilemma in regards to whether the sea creature should be allowed to go free or not. Instead the film takes the simplistic stance of claiming that Elisa is justified in rescuing the creature as he is a living creature capable of empathy and anyone with any apprehensions about this is a heartless monster. The story would be immensely more impactful if the moral dilemma was presented in a manner that painted the opposing side in a more fully developed way. This would make it that much more rewarding when the audience of their own volition sides with the protagonist’s decisions.
Additionally, the real-life grittiness prevalent in many aspects of the film also extends itself into the relationship between Elisa and the sea creature in the form of having the fairytale romance immediately become a sexual one most likely in an attempt to mirror a modern-day romance rather than one from a storybook. While somewhat jarring, this element could have been overcome if the story had built up the bond between the two central characters in an organic manner. I felt myself throughout the story desperately wanting to buy into the genuine caring Elisa had for the sea creature and vice versa, however, due to not devoting just an extra scene or two to better develop this, Elisa comes across more as being desperate for a sexual bond and the otherworldly emotional bond is obscured as result.
Despite some shortcomings, The Shape of Water managed to win me over by the time the film concluded. The final act of the film somewhat redeems the core relationship of the film and I found myself at last more strongly invested in the fates of these two star-crossed lovers. As I mentioned before the visuals and performances alone make the film worth seeing. The themes of The Shape of Water are definitely timely and Guillermo Del Toro does a masterful job of reflecting topical issues such as immigration by using the brilliant metaphor of alien monsters not really being evil and setting the film during a period in which it is familiar yet removed from the present-day events. At its core The Shape of Water is a film about having an open-mind regarding beings that on the surface seem fearsome and terrifying, it’s a shame the film couldn’t be this open-minded in presenting both sides of the moral issue.
