Dancing on my own

Rating: 6/10 (28 September 2019)

The Lobster is an absurdist black comedy with a deadpan narration. It is set in a Dystopian world where being single can turn you into an animal.
Yorgos Lanthimos examines both politics and sexual politics. It is an interesting take on the pressure society puts on people to have a companion and the pitfalls of political factions. In some ways this is George Orwell mixed with Monty Python. A kind of modern day Brazil, the movie directed by Terry Gilliam.
David (Colin Farrell) arrives in a hotel after his wife has left him. The newly arrived guests have 45 days to find a partner or be turned into an animal. David chooses to be a lobster if he fails to find a suitable relationship.
The hotel has strange rules such as forbidding masturbation which can lead to harsh punishment. Guests are encouraged to partner up by attending dances and finding partners who they share something in common with.
When David escapes the hotel and heads for the woods. He enters a commune for committed singles who want to be independent but they also have strange and eccentric rules. This includes dancing on their own to electric music and digging your own grave.
In the forest David finds romance with a short sighted woman (Rachel Weisz) which is forbidden.
The Lobster cannot maintain its offbeat premise. It runs out of gas and just wants to be eccentric for the sake of it. The (deliberate) flat performances and narration soon becomes tiring and its originality fades once David escapes from the hotel.