The Shape of Water (2017)
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A mute woman working in a high-security government laboratory falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature.
The story
Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, during the Cold War, Elisa Esposito is a mute janitor who communicates through sign language. While working at a secret government laboratory, she discovers a humanoid amphibian creature captured by Colonel Richard Strickland. As the military seeks to exploit the creature for the Space Race, Elisa forms a secret bond with the creature. With the help of her neighbor Giles and coworker Zelda, she attempts to protect the creature from being experimented upon by the military and help it escape into the wild.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1962, Elisa Esposito, a mute janitor in a secret government laboratory in Baltimore, discovers a humanoid amphibian creature captured by Colonel Richard Strickland. While the military plans to vivisect the creature to gain an advantage in the Space Race, Elisa forms a secret bond with it. With the help of her neighbor Giles and coworker Zelda, she hides the creature in her apartment. As the creature's health declines and the military's search intensifies, the tension peaks when Strickland discovers the creature's location. During a final confrontation at a canal, Strickland shoots both Elisa and the creature. However, the creature heals itself, slashes Strickland's throat, and jumps into the water with Elisa. In the water, the creature's healing powers activate, causing gills to form on Elisa's neck, and the two embrace as she is transformed into an amphibious being.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 123
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- American Sign Language
- Directors
- Guillermo del Toro
- Writers
- Guillermo del Toro · screenplay; Vanessa Taylor · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Sally Hawkins · Elisa Esposito; Michael Shannon · Richard Strickland; Richard Jenkins · Giles; Doug Jones · Amphibian Man; Michael Stuhlbarg; Octavia Spencer · Zelda
- Genres
- romantic dark fantasy; period; fantasy
- Themes
- otherness; love
- Tone and mood
- dark fantasy; romantic
- Premise and plot tags
- Cold War; Space Race; monster; romance
- Source material / true-story basis
- Creature from the Black Lagoon
- Reception
- The film was widely acclaimed by critics, who lauded its acting, screenplay, direction, visuals, production design, cinematography, and musical score.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 465; Metacritic · score: 87 · scale: 100 · review count: 53; CinemaScore · score: positive · scale: not specified; PostTrak · score: 80% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The film was inspired by the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon.; A novelization of the film was published in 2018.; The film was the second fantasy film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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