The Lighthouse (2019)
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Two lighthouse keepers become increasingly unhinged while stranded on a remote New England island during a violent storm.
The story
In the 1890s, Ephraim Winslow begins a four-week stint as a "wickie" (lighthouse keeper) on an isolated island off the coast of New England, under the supervision of former sailor Thomas Wake. The two men are forced to maintain the lighthouse and its machinery while enduring the isolation of their post. However, the atmosphere of the island begins to take a toll on their mental states. When a violent storm strikes, the pair becomes stranded, and the physical and psychological pressures of their confinement begin to manifest in increasingly erratic behaviors and paranoia as they struggle to maintain their sanity in the face of the elements.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In the 1890s, Ephraim Winslow begins a four-week stint as a "wickie" on an isolated island off the coast of New England, supervised by Thomas Wake. As they endure the isolation, Winslow begins to hallucinate sea monsters and find a mermaid's body. A severe storm strands them on the island, and the two men begin to spiral into a state of drunken, paranoid madness. Winslow eventually confesses that he is actually Thomas Howard, who stole the identity of the real Ephraim Winslow. This revelation leads to a violent confrontation where Howard beats Wake into submission and buries him alive. After a final, desperate struggle involving a hallucinated mermaid and a sense of impending doom, Howard ascends the lighthouse. In the lantern room, he is exposed to a terrifying truth, leading to his ultimate demise on the rocks below, where he is left to be pecked by gulls.
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 109
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Robert Eggers
- Writers
- Robert Eggers · writer; Max Eggers · writer
- Cast and characters
- Willem Dafoe · Thomas Wake; Robert Pattinson · Ephraim Winslow (fake) / Thomas Howard; Valeriia Karaman · the Mermaid; Logan Hawkes · Ephraim Winslow (real); Kyla Nicolle · the Woman on the Rocks; Shaun Clarke · the Departing Wickie; Pierre Richard · the Departing Assistant Wickie; Preston Hudson · the Tender Mates; Jeff Cruts · the Tender Mates
- Genres
- horror; psychological thriller
- Themes
- identity; isolation; madness; masculinity; mythology
- Tone and mood
- claustrophobic; eerie; darkly comedic
- Premise and plot tags
- period piece; supernatural; psychological thriller; horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- Edgar Allan Poe's incomplete short story 'The Light-House' and a 19th-century legend of an accident at a Welsh lighthouse.
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim, particularly for its direction, visuals, and the performances of Dafoe and Pattinson.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 90% · scale: percentage · review count: 398; Metacritic · score: 83 · scale: 100 · review count: 52
- Awards and nominations
- Best Cinematography · Academy Awards · 92nd · nomination; Best Cinematography · British Academy Film Awards · 73rd · nomination
- Production trivia
- The filmmakers constructed a 70-foot makeshift lighthouse on Cape Forchu in Nova Scotia.; The script was influenced by the works of Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H. P. Lovecraft.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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