In this blog post I’ll be analyzing a scene from The Lobster (2015), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, starring Collin Farrel, Ben Wishaw, Rachel, Weisz and Léa Seydoux.
In a dystopian future, or strange alternative present, adults who are single, either through failure to find a partner or bereavement, must check into a hotel with other singles and find a genuinely compatible partner (the union’s authenticity has to be approved by the management) within 45 days, or they are transformed into an animal of their choice and released into the forest. But they can gain extra time for this “search” period with hunting trips into the forest with rifles and bringing down rebellious “singles” who have escaped into the wild there, living as singleton outlaws.
They all have to participate in the activities: dancing and social interaction and conform to the strict no-masturbation rule. But Farrell is to glimpse the possibility of escape, and of living among the rebels in the forest in a society whose rules are hardly less dysfunctional and mad than those of the hotel. Here he is to fall in love with a beautiful, lonely woman played by Rachel Weisz and submit to rules imposed by charismatic, ruthless revolutionary played by Léa Seydoux.
The scene is a dancing scene in which the protagonist David struggles to socialize but eventually stands up and walks towards a girl and asks her to dance.
The lighting in the scene is very high key, with a warm, yellow-ish tone, looking a lot like the lighting in Amélie (2001). The warm tone makes a strong contrast with the anxious mood of David, the surrounding coversations in the background, the cheerful, harmonious atmosphere makes him look like an alien.