I fell in love with a man or a woman, a porcelain doll, a Ferris wheel or a fish

Allan 2022-04-19 09:01:18

Loving "The Shape of Water" is my biggest feeling after watching this film.

"The Shape of Water" is a new film directed by monster control director Guillermo del Toro. The director who has directed "Pan's Labyrinth", "Hellboy" and "Pacific Rim" is affectionately called a spinning top.

Top is undoubtedly a monster lover. The monsters in his films are not the same as those in other monster movies. They are all more human, like children, they are not ugly, and they can even taste a few different kinds of handsome.

The same goes for the monsters in The Shape of Water. He is a distressed male mermaid, and in a strict sense, he is probably an amphibious human. At the end of the film you will find that he may also be a god.

The background of the story takes place during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union are engaged in an arms race. He was captured by the U.S. government for research. The heroine Eliza is working as a cleaner in this laboratory. Eliza is a dumb girl. She and the mermaid almost fell in love at first sight. They fell in love as if they had telepathy.

【Cruel stories OR fantasy fairy tales】

The overall style of the film "The Shape of Water" is very fantasy, retro, with beautiful innocence in it, as well as R-rated film elements that tend to be ghostly and terrifying. It is because of this mix that The Shape of Water is so special.

The most romantic scene is probably when Eliza seals up her dilapidated bathroom and fills it with water, and she and the merman embrace in that water world. The water gradually poured out and leaked into the cinema downstairs. The bath water gurgled on the window as if it was raining. And the two of them didn't care at all.

The bloodiest scene was when the Russian spy was pierced in the stomach and mouth by the chasing American officer. In order to force him to tell the whereabouts of the mermaid, the officer put his hand into his bloody mouth and smashed it hard. You can almost A cracking sound is heard.

Fans who are familiar with spinning tops will not be surprised by the ghostly and romantic style of "The Shape of Water", because this is the form he has always been good at. "The Shape of Water" was nominated for 13 Oscars this year, enough to prove everyone's recognition of it.

【Love breaks daily life】

At the beginning of the film, almost three scenes are used to show the daily life of the mute Eliza. Get up early, cook eggs, masturbate while eggs are cooking, brush your shoes, prepare meals for the frustrated painter next door, take the tram, clock in to work, and start your day. It goes back and forth, again and again. Until she met the male protagonist who was trapped in the water tank. Her daily routine was disrupted. She broke away from her original daily life and became the princess who saved the male mermaid.

Why does the director spend so much pen and ink to describe Eliza's daily life?

Sometimes life is the same, like Eliza's friends. Frustrated painters are always painting a painting that cannot satisfy the other party in any way. Colleague Zelda is always complaining about his family life. The Russian spy Robert who sneaked into the laboratory always reported that the same job could not find life. meaning, and Eliza's life is day after day. Until she met love, she bravely went out, even at the risk of committing a crime, to save the mermaid from the laboratory and prevent him from being dissected.

And what about her friends? They all chose to help Eliza. While they helped Eliza, their own lives changed. Rather than saying that they helped Eliza, it is better to say that everyone chose to take a road that was never taken before because of the appearance of the mermaid, chose to overthrow the past life, and defected from the ordinary life.

【The Lonely Front Alliance】

In this successful plan to rescue the mermaid prince, everyone who participated in it carefully considered that they were very lonely people, and their loneliness stemmed from their incompleteness in the eyes of the world.

Eliza is a dumb girl, she can't speak, her world is only her own murmuring. Only a few friends are willing to listen to her dancing and telling; the frustrated painter is a gay who lost his job, was abandoned by the public, and has a crush on the pie shop employee; Zelda, who is also a cleaner, is a A black man, she and her family suffered discrimination and humiliation that could hardly sit at the bar in the United States of that era; but "The Shape of Water" is very gentle in this regard, and even the cruel truth is exhausted. The tender sense of humor dissipated. In the end, these crippled people come together and work together to rescue the trapped god.

【Ordinary people who meet gods】

I watched this film at night, and one of the most important reasons for liking it is that I really like Eliza played by Sally Hawkins. The charm of this heroine is too great. Her beauty comes from her attitude towards life.

Even if you live in a peaceful age, even if you are no longer viewed in the same way by anyone, your loneliness will not be lighter than her and her friends. The loneliness is an existence that goes hand in hand, regardless of gender, time and space. And on how to coexist with her own loneliness, the heroine Eliza has done a very good job from the beginning. She has her own rhythm, her own music, her own vision of observing the world, neither humble nor arrogant. So she lived a very smooth and warm life in her incomplete world.

Only such a person can discover the gods in the water tank. Will be willing to let go of prejudice to communicate with him. There's no reason to panic.

Only such ordinary people have the possibility to meet the gods. Let's all learn from Eliza how she can be an ordinary person who can meet the good times.

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Extended Reading

The Shape of Water quotes

  • Fleming: Now. I don't want to bolster or overstate the matter, but uh, this may very well be *the* most sensitive asset ever to be housed in this facility.

  • Giles: We can do nothing! I'm sorry! But this, this, this is just - Oh God, it's not even human. God!

    [Elisa follows Giles into the hallway and hits the wall to get his attention]

    Giles: What?

    Elisa: [in sign language] If we / do nothing / neither are we.