By Helen Clarke
Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz take on a challenging arthouse performance in this dystopian epic commenting on social attitudes towards relationships.
A simplistic approach to cinematography highlights the basic human need for affection and companionship. Although at times this seems low budget, it is beautifully contrasted with slow motion shots, harrowing music and suspense building 
cross cutting.
In a land where single people are sent to an institute to find a match, this time locked story gives each individual forty five days to become a couple. If they don’t, they are turned into an animal and banished from society. However this isn’t a film about magic; it is a sometimes chilling portrayal of desperation and blunt emotion.
It is interesting to see Colin Farrell as a morbid, numb man with a middle aged spread, rather than eye candy; his appearance this time serves to relate to the average man on his journey for a loving future.
The Lobster brings to mind Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, as it too questions the limits of control in society, how interchangeable partners can be and how hollow relationships become sometimes.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and have never seen anything quite like it. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting a film offering something different.
Helen Clarke is a second year English and Film student at MMU.
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The dislocation between the first and second halves was jarring. Totally agree that it’s worth seeing, though.