The level of satire tabled by this picture is out of no one else's mind barring Yorgos Lanthimos & team! It bears an idiosyncratic, weird yet appallingly original notion! In this universe, it's illegal for a person to be single. If you happen to be one, you'll be brought into 'jail' alias hotel and lessoned on the importance of being a couple. Failure to find a partner by the end of the 45th day will result in human to animal transformation, for which the inmate could choose the type. It's even told that this is the reason why there's abundance of dogs, as it is the most common choice!
By the first sound of the premise, you might be thinking what sort of a ridiculous film this is, right? Well, that's the target aimed & achieved by this absurdist fiction. Secondly, you might be wondering, how in God's name the transfiguration from human to animal shall take place? We hear about it. We see the Transformation Room at most. But not the process. Because this isn't the point of the movie! All the script's trying to tell us is, if you persist to be single in this fictional world, you'll be out of the society for good.
One thing: Irony. From the redundant narration explicating obvious transpirations onscreen to the rest of the feature, you'll experience irony a lot! And you can't help but to question yourself:
To sum up all these queries into a singular eroteme, the film is posing to ask: "How can we even attempt to justify an organic phenomenon known as relationships?" Brilliant! This is a concept that'll knock the heads harder pertaining to Asian culture more suitably. Although placed in prison, we don't see all the characters making efforts to be in a relationship. That's because they do not want to. It's each to their own personal preference. Assigning children to solve arguments between couples is a hilarious stroke! City visits rounds up the mechanics of the said world. The way the Loners 'kill' the Couples is by… well, breaking their relationships! This has to be the smartest 'murder' ever, because it fits the motivation seamlessly! This is why The Lobster is ideologically great!
The dark humour is spot on, largely due to the emotionless & blunt delivery of dialogues! Logics within the generated universe are maintained well in this script with a complete beginning, middle and end. Handcuffs to remind why 2 is always better than 1 and toasting hand for biological-urge-satisfying masturbations are instances of merciless terrors & psychological presses which will make you feel grateful for not being part of this universe!
The screenwriters' visual skills are displayed masterfully in the David & Heartless Woman sequence, respectively played nicely by Colin Farrell & Angeliki Papoulia. Her test on him whether David is truly a heartless person like her is pure filmmaking - telling a story through pictures! While the first half of the protagonist's journey is compelling, it quickly becomes a little dog-tired after he joins the Loners. Not many scenes are as intriguing as how it all were initially.
Thimios Bakatakis' camera work for the slow motion chase hunting Loners in the forest is ravishing! In a pro-couple environment, the hero couldn't find a partner. In a pro-single group, he did. After all that he's seen, has he learnt the fact that justifying relationships is stupid? Or will he choose to turn blind on this fact, both figuratively & literally? This is an author-thinker resolution the motion picture leaves you to answer.