Absurdist comedy in a fictional universe. Not for all viewers, I expect.

Rating: Null/10 (24 September 2016)

I saw this at home on DVD from my public library. My wife quit after about 20 minutes, too absurd for her.
I added this movie to my watch list because of the actors, I like Farrell, Reilly, and Weisz. But I really knew nothing about the themes. I suppose if you look at the stories as indicators of real interpersonal relationships you might glean something about human nature. But it is scripted in such an unusual style, sort of like how it would sound if all the characters had Asperger's, everything direct and without humor or subtlety.
It is set in a universe that looks much like ours, or more specifically Ireland, but with very unusual customs. One is that if a person become single for some reason they are sent to a particular hotel, given a room, and they get 45 days to pair up with another person. If they don't then they get converted into an animal. Upon entry they get to choose which animal.
Colin Farrell is David, his wife left him and now he is here. He chooses to become a Lobster if he can't find a partner. Why? Because a lobster lives hundreds of years and remains sexually potent until very old age. Neglecting of course the possibility that he will be caught and eaten at a relatively young age.
John C. Reilly is part of the cast as Lisping Man. And Rachel Weisz is only known as Short Sighted Woman (short sighted is British for near- sighted vision). So all this plays out in an absurdist manner, everything is strange. It is not possible to write a simple synopsis but David and the Short Sighted Woman find they are compatible, both as runaways from the hotel, now living in the woods.
Several times I considered abandoning the movie but the absurdity of it all kept me watching. It definitely isn't a movie I'd watch again, or recommend to my friends, but I am glad I stuck with it. What an unusual movie!
SPOILERS: The end may be the whole point of the story. David and his new partner are in town in a restaurant, fugitives of sorts. She has been blinded by the authorities but he still has his sight. He says he loves her and wants to be like her. He asks the waiter for a fork and sharp knife, he goes into the men's room to put out his eyes, to become blind like she is. He looks in the mirror, he puts the point of the knife to his eyes, but the movie ends with her sitting at the table, waiting, waiting. It is ambiguous of course by my take is that he just couldn't go through with it, he couldn't blind himself, so he just went on his way and left her.