The Shape of Water
The Shape of Water is a 2017 Mexican-American romantic dark fantasy film directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature, and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel. Filming took place on location in Ontario, Canada, from August to November 2016.
This article is about the 2017 American film. For the unrelated Italian novel, see The Shape of Water (novel).The Shape of Water
- Guillermo del Toro
- Vanessa Taylor
Guillermo del Toro
- Guillermo del Toro
- J. Miles Dale
- Fox Searchlight Pictures
- TSG Entertainment
- Double Dare You Productions
Fox Searchlight Pictures
- August 31, 2017 (Venice)
- December 1, 2017 (United States)
123 minutes[1]
- United States
- Mexico[2]
- American Sign Language
- English
- Russian
$196 million[5]
The Shape Of Water was screened as part of the main competition in the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it premiered on August 31, 2017, and was awarded the Golden Lion. It was also screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It began a limited release in two theaters in New York City on December 1, 2017, before expanding wide on December 22, 2017, and grossed $195 million worldwide.
The Shape of Water was widely acclaimed by critics, who lauded its acting, screenplay, direction, visuals, production design, cinematography, and musical score. The American Film Institute selected it as one of the top ten films of 2017. The film was nominated for a leading thirteen awards at the 90th Academy Awards, winning four, including Best Picture and Best Director for del Toro, and received numerous other accolades. It was the second fantasy film to win Best Picture, after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). A novelization by del Toro and Daniel Kraus was published on March 6, 2018.
Plot[edit]
Elisa Esposito, who was found abandoned by the side of a river as an infant with scars on her neck, is mute and communicates through sign language. In 1962, during the Cold War, Elisa works as a custodian at a secret government laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland, and lives a very routine life in an apartment above a movie theater. Her only friends are her closeted gay next-door neighbor Giles, a struggling middle-aged advertising illustrator, and her co-worker Zelda Fuller.
Colonel Richard Strickland has just captured a mysterious creature from a South American river and has taken it to the Baltimore facility for further study. Curious, Elisa discovers it is a humanoid amphibian. She begins visiting him in secret, and they form a close bond.
Seeking to exploit the Amphibian Man for a US advantage in the Space Race, General Frank Hoyt is eventually persuaded by Strickland to vivisect it. Dr. Robert Hoffstetler, a scientist who is secretly a Russian spy named Dimitri Mosenkov, pleads unsuccessfully to Strickland to keep him alive for further study, while simultaneously ordered by his Soviet handlers to kill the creature.
When Elisa overhears the Americans' plans for the Amphibian Man, she attempts to persuade Giles to help her liberate him. He refuses at first, scared of the consequences and ethics. After failing to get his job back, Giles is rejected by a pie restaurant worker, who he discovers is a racist and homophobe. Subsequently, he has a change of heart.
Hoffstetler stumbles upon Elisa's plot in progress and chooses to assist her. Though initially reluctant, Zelda also becomes involved in making the escape successful. Elisa plans to release the Amphibian Man into a nearby canal when heavy rain will allow access to the ocean. In the meantime, she keeps him in her bathtub. Strickland interrogates Elisa and Zelda, among others, but he learns nothing.
The Amphibian Man encounters one of Giles's cats, who reacts expectedly. Giles discovers the Amphibian Man devouring the cat. When he tries to stop him, he gets startled, slashes Giles's arm and rushes out of the apartment. He gets as far as the cinema downstairs before Elisa finds him and returns him to her apartment.
The creature touches Giles on his balding head and wounded arm. The next morning, Giles discovers hair has begun growing back on his previously bald head, while the wounds on his arm have healed. Elisa continues to develop her romantic relationship with the Amphibian Man, culminating in sexual intercourse.
General Hoyt unexpectedly arrives and tells Strickland he has 36 hours to recover the Amphibian Man, or his career and life will be over. Meanwhile, Hoffstetler is told by his handlers that he will be extracted from the US in two days. Although the planned release date approaches, the Amphibian Man's health begins to deteriorate.
Hoffstetler goes to meet his handlers, and Strickland follows him. At the rendezvous, Hoffstetler is shot by one of them and Strickland intervenes, shooting both handlers. Realizing that Hoffstetler is a spy, Strickland tortures the dying man into revealing the Amphibian Man's whereabouts. He is surprised to learn that Elisa and Zelda are involved.
Strickland threatens Zelda in her home unsuccessfully, until her husband Brewster, reveals that Elisa has the Amphibian Man. She immediately telephones her, warning her to release the creature. An enraged Strickland ransacks Elisa's empty apartment until he finds evidence in the bathtub and a calendar note revealing where she plans to release the Amphibian Man.
At the canal, Elisa and Giles are bidding farewell to the creature when Strickland arrives, knocks Giles down, and shoots both the Amphibian Man and Elisa. The Amphibian Man heals himself, and kills Strickland by slashing his throat. As the police arrive on the scene with Zelda, the Amphibian Man takes Elisa and jumps into the canal, swimming around her lifeless body. He applies his healing powers/ability to the scars on Elisa's neck, which open to reveal gills like his.
Elisa jolts back to life and they embrace and kiss. In a closing voice-over narration, Giles conveys his belief that Elisa lived happily ever after and remained in love with the Amphibian Man.
Release[edit]
The Shape of Water premiered on August 31, 2017, at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Lion for best film.[27][28] It also screened at Telluride Film Festival,[29] the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival,[30] and BFI London Film Festival, among others.[31] The film was released in two theaters in New York City on December 1, 2017, and then expanded to several other cities the following week. It had its official wide release in the United States on December 22, 2017.[32]
On March 13, 2018, the film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download.[33] Special features on the Ultra HD Blu-ray includes a making-of documentary, two featurettes, a MasterClass Q & A with Guillermo del Toro, an interview with artist James Jean, and three theatrical trailers.[34]
Thematic analysis[edit]
Construction of the Other[edit]
Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017) is constructed to challenge society’s perception of the Other in both a literal and metaphorical sense. The monster of this film is a humanoid amphibian creature stolen from the Amazon by American scientists. While much of pop culture has dismissed this film as a monster-human romance,[35] the imagery and symbolism of this film go far beyond fantasy. Through del Toro’s characterization and intentional humanization of the creature, the creature becomes a metaphor to discuss the “beauty of the Other”[35] (i.e., those marginalized in society).
The sociopolitical context of the film becomes essential to understanding character dynamics; namely the interactions between those with power and those without. In the background of the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement, Black people, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people continually occupied a lower social class in the United States.[36] Therefore, those belonging to marginalized groups are likely to connect and empathize with the creature as they see their own experiences reflected through the creature’s interactions with the people of authority around him.[37]
As a mute woman and someone who is not visibly Other,[37] Elisa’s acceptance of the creature is interpreted as a testament to the human capacity for compassion and empathy. Her attempt to free the creature from government control, with help from Giles (a gay man) and Zelda (a Black woman), is evidence of solidarity among marginalized communities. Similar to Tod Browning’s Freaks, it is no surprise in this film that those who are also othered by society band together against the oppressive external powers. This may influence “viewers to consider how they too can resist oppression”[36] in the face of institutional monstrous brutality.[38]
Humanization of the Monster[edit]
For Alberta Adji, “monstrous entities help the audience perceive foreigners as something that is intimate, common, and invaluable.”[39] The film contrasts the two societal approaches to foreigners (e.g., immigrants, refugees, etc.) through the perspectives of Elisa and Dr. Hoffstetler. In science, the creature is a specimen, until the moment the scientist realizes that he is capable of understanding human speech.[40] This scene implies that acceptance relies simply on a person’s ability to communicate in the dominant language around them.[41] However, for Elisa, humanity moves beyond communication as she and the creature are “both without words, they're speechless, and [yet they are] loved.”[42]
The fairytale nature of the story is exploited as a means to humanize the creature; the viewer can look beyond his physically monstrous appearance and focus solely on his actions and behavior which we believe are synonymous with humanity. Stylistic choices, such as the romantic dream sequence between the creature and Elisa, exist as a parallel to Beauty and the Beast;[35] viewers remain in a state of heightened awareness and suspense as they wonder whether the creature will transform into a human. Unlike traditional monster-human romances, this creature “does not die, is not killed, and does not have to become human to be acceptable to others and to live happily ever after.”[41] This sentiment may offer hope to marginalized communities as it emphasizes that they do not need to assimilate in order to be accepted. Therefore, the acceptance of the creature symbolizes a “message of reflection, acceptance, and embracing otherness.”[41]
The film is structured so that we determine humanity through people’s treatment of the creature. If he is a symbol of the Other, Elisa views humanity as compassion and acceptance, regardless of visible differences. For Strickland, that which is different is a threat to his way of living.[39] Furthermore, this film delivers shades of gray through Zelda and Giles; they eventually grow to accept the monster, which can be parallel to an openness to learn and understand others to find that they are much more like us than we previously believed.
Emergence of a Moral Monster[edit]
By occupying a place in society as something Other, the creature becomes a “metaphorical device for investigating issues involving power, agency, and the boundaries that define and delineate what is human and non-human.”[39] Therefore, del Toro’s humanization of the monstrous is necessary to contrast Strickland’s emergence as the moral monster.[38] For example, in the scene where the creature is tortured by Strickland with the use of an electric cattle prod, viewers are disgusted by the gruesome act of violence perpetrated by the government official while also feeling sympathy for the creature. These sentiments are not only exacerbated by Strickland’s explicit indifference but are also influenced by the human-like behavior of the creature.[43] Immediately, the senselessness of violence demonstrated calls into question Strickland’s humanity and morality.
Viewers are left with a visceral sense of fear and discomfort with the animalistic nature and brutality of Strickland’s actions.[38] This recurring violence becomes a tool to emphasize his monstrosity and solidifies his place as a moral rather than a biological monster.[38] Moreover, Strickland’s monstrosity is a product of the dominant culture; his status in society (as a cisgender, heterosexual White man) “prevents him from examining his flaws,”[39] thus allowing him to inflict violence without reproach. This violence and oppression in the film are synonymous with aggression and marginalization of populations in real life.
Critique of the Film[edit]
Though the film is lauded for its representation of a strong woman with a disability, its main criticism surrounds the romantic relationship between Elisa and the monster. While one can understand del Toro’s intention to find beauty in the Other,[35] viewers find it unfortunate that the messaging could also be seen as the person with a disability is so different from the rest of society that they are unable to gain respect, love, and admiration from anybody but a ‘monster’.[43] Activists with disabilities such as Dominick Evans believe that “[the film] says to [them] that without being cured, [they're] not going to be loved or worthwhile to another human being.”[44] This is furthered by the end scene of the film, as Elisa and the creature appear to leave our world behind. Critics emphasize that despite the romance of the fairytale, this film can be interpreted as “if [people with disabilities] don't fit into society, it's better that [they] leave.”[44] For many, the film is a beautiful take on a love story in which marginalized people find power, strength, and love, while for others, the film leaves them questioning their own place and humanity in the eyes of society.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Shape of Water grossed $63.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $131.4 million in other countries, for a total of $195.2 million.[5]
After grossing $4.6 million over a three-week limited release, the film began its wide release on December 22, 2017, alongside the openings of Downsizing, Pitch Perfect 3 and Father Figures, and the wide expansion of Darkest Hour, and grossed $3 million from 726 theaters over the weekend, and $4.4 million over the four-day Christmas frame.[45] The following weekend, the film made $3.5 million.[46] The weekend of January 27, 2018, following the announcement of the film's 13 Oscar nominations, the film was added to over 1,000 theaters (for a total of 1,854) and made $5.9 million (an increase of 171% over the previous week's $2.2 million), finishing 8th.[47] The weekend of March 9–11, following its four Oscar wins, the film made an additional $2.4 million. It marked a 64% increase from the previous week's $1.5 million and was similar to the $2.5 million made by the previous year's Best Picture winner, Moonlight.[48]
Plagiarism accusations[edit]
In February 2018, the estate of Paul Zindel initiated a lawsuit in United States District Court for the Central District of California against director Guillermo del Toro and associate producer Daniel Kraus, alleging that The Shape of Water "brazenly copies the story, elements, characters, and themes" of Zindel's 1969 work Let Me Hear You Whisper, which depicts a cleaning lady bonding with a dolphin and attempting to rescue it from a secret research laboratory's nefarious uses.[65] The complaint spends more than a dozen pages detailing alleged "overwhelming similarities" between the works.[66] Del Toro denied the claim of the Zindel estate, saying that "I have never read nor seen the play. I'd never heard of this play before making The Shape of Water, and none of my collaborators ever mentioned the play." Distributor Fox Searchlight also denied the claim and said that it would "vigorously defend" itself in court.[67]
In July 2018, Judge Percy Anderson dismissed the suit and stated that del Toro and Fox Searchlight were entitled to recover their legal costs.[68] On April 5, 2021, the following statement by plaintiff was released: "David Zindel, the son of Paul Zindel, author of Let Me Hear You Whisper, acknowledges, based on confidential information obtained during the litigation process, that his claims of plagiarism are unfounded. He acknowledges Guillermo del Toro as the true creator of The Shape of Water. Any similarity between the two works is coincidental."[69]
There have also been accusations that The Shape of Water plagiarised Amphibian Man, a 1962 Soviet film based on a 1928 novel of the same name by Alexander Belyaev.[70][71] Indie Cinema Magazine noted that both have a similar plot, the use of the name "Amphibian Man" in both films, the Soviet connection in both stories, and the 1962 setting.[70] Amphibian Man was one of the highest-grossing Soviet films of all time, with up to 100 million box office admissions in the Soviet Union.[72]
The film also received accusations of plagiarism by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the French director of the romantic comedy Amélie and the cult classic Delicatessen,[73] who claimed that del Toro plagiarized some of the scenes within his works Amelie, Delicatessen, and The City of Lost Children.[74] Other observers vehemently disagree with Jeunet's assertion.[75] Jeunet pointed out some of the similarities in the saturation of the colours, overall art direction and the use of anthropomorphic objects, as well as the music, which is reminiscent of Yann Tiersen's soundtrack on the former. Responding to Jeunet's accusations of plagiarism, del Toro cited the influences of Terry Gilliam's works as the inspiration for The Shape of Water.[74] Both composer Alexandre Desplat and del Toro have cited French composer Georges Delerue,[76] whose work predates Tiersen's by decades, as the inspiration for the musical score. Desplat has also emphasized the importance of water as essential to both the score and to the themes of the film itself.[77]
While covering the plagiarism accusations from Jeunet and Zindel, comparisons were also drawn between The Shape of Water and the 2015 short film "The Space Between Us", the latter of which was created as a student project at the Netherlands Film Academy.[78][79] Outlets reported that both films held a similar premise, that of a janitorial worker falling in love with an amphibious man held captive at a research facility, as well as other similarities such as the time period as well as "scenes in which the woman feeds the creature and dances to records in front of it; and rescue missions, both involving laundry carts, devised after plans to kill and dissect the creatures come to light."[80][81] After screening a copy of The Shape of Water, the Netherlands Film Academy and students issued a statement acknowledging the films as uniquely different and that "They have separate timelines of development and are not in any conceivable way interlinked or related."[82]
