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The Lobster- Anyone else watch this movie?

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It's a so-called dark comedy involving a dystopian society where being single is a crime.  For its director, it's his first English language film.  After watching it, it seems the message is clear- man cannot live a fulfilling life if a political collective is going to force restrictions upon him.  One can read a more full synopsis of this film at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lobster

I found the movie a bit short of wit and downright ugly to view.  I found it lacked a sense of life and lacked any passion.  I saw the movie to its bitter end.  I can't imagine an objectivist liking this film.  What are your thoughts?

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  • 3 months later...

I saw this movie. It's an absurdist allegory about relationships. The tone is malevolent and depressing. The characters are mostly sociopathic. From what I could gather, the basic idea is the ridiculous manner in which some people search for a mate. Perhaps the movie is trying to say that there is a problem with humans looking for a mate based on shared character traits or interests, instead of acting on the idea that "love is blind." This desire to find common characteristics in a spouse defeats the notion of romantic love and reduces man to the level of animals.

[SPOILER ahead. Stop reading if you don't want to know the ending of the movie.]

The end of the movie has the protagonist contemplating whether to poke out his own eyes so that he'll share blindness with his female companion. This is a metaphor for "love is blind" but the audience is left wondering whether the man will realize it or not. Will the man keep his sight and love the blind woman anyway? Will he blind himself so that they have a physical trait in common? Or will he walk away from the relationship?

Since the movie is absurdist, it doesn't really answer any questions and seems to indicate that there is no answer to be had. Except that the title of the movie is The Lobster, and deep-sea lobsters are blind. And the protagonist says that he wants to be turned into a lobster if he doesn't find a mate.

Overall, I didn't care for the movie. I thought it was clever and well-acted. But I'm not a fan of absurdism.

Edited by MisterSwig
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