The Shape of Water: Guillermo Del Toro’s Masterpiece Takes Shape in a Beautiful Way

©2017 Twentieth Century Fox

2017 was a weird year: Donald Trump was sworn in as president, a Spongebob Squarepants musical was made (and was shockingly good), and Guillermo Del Toro’s woman-loves-fish fantasy epic became undoubtedly the most beautiful film of the year.

After seeing The Shape of Water, I immediately kicked myself for not being familiar with director Guillermo Del Toro’s filmography. His lush and over-the-top romantic fantasy is everything storytelling should be: fantastic, unpredictable, and succinct. Much praise will be heaped on the creative team for building Del Toro’s vision, but the real star is Doug Jones who turns a non-verbal role where he is covered in slimy scales into the emotional core of this love story.

Elisa Esposito (a revelatory Sally Hawkins) lives her life by the clock. She wakes, boils an egg, masturbates, and heads off to work. The mute woman, who works as a janitor at a U.S. research facility, constantly escapes into the perfect world of Old Hollywood with her closeted neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins in a subtly amazing performance). When the facility brings in a new subject, referred to solely as “the asset,” Elisa is immediately drawn to the curious creature.

Unexpectedly, Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and her amphibian man (Doug Jones) are the greatest love story of the year.
Photo by Kerry Hayes. ©2017 Twentieth Century Fox

Upon first encounter with the creature, Elisa is struck by its demure nature along with its ability to comprehend the small acts of compassion she shows him. She plays music for him, brings him eggs, and teaches some basic sign language. Unfortunately, the asset is not there to become a pet or lover but instead to be researched. The volatile Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon, clearly relishing his character’s dubiousness) wants only to tear the asset open and explore his innards to know what makes him tick. Dumbstruck, Elisa hatches a plan to break the asset from the facility along with Giles and her best friend and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer, bringing substance to a throw-away role).

There’s also a few subplots about the Colonel being obsessed with silent women, Cold War tensions boiling, and Giles’s failed attempts to connect with a man he suspects is also closeted. Thinking about all of the plots to cover makes one think the script would feel jumbled and rushed. It is anything but. The plot always feels straightforward thanks to a masterful screenplay from Mr. Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. While some outcomes are largely expected, the path to get there has many more turns that anticipated.

Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The King’s Speech) delivers yet another beautiful score. The tunes are at the same time playful and bleak. A certain uneasiness lingers in all of the pieces playing over the scenes set in the research facility. Once Elisa leaves work, however, she is in her own world. Somber tones disappear and are replaced by a hopeful melody that mirrors Elisa’s idealistic views of the world. She is a dreamer who hopes to live a life similar to those she sees in the classic Hollywood movies Giles shows her. In one of the more surprising and artful moments of The Shape of Water, Elisa bursts into song with her amphibian man for a joyous rendition of “You’ll Never Know.”

Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Giles (Richard Jenkins) might just have the cutest movie friendship in recent years.
Photo by Kerry Hayes. ©2017 Twentieth Century Fox

Every scene is vital and beautifully shot thanks to superb work by Dan Laustsen. With so many secondary and tertiary plots, it is crucial to have camerawork that propels the story forward. Laustsen relishes intimate work with his well-assembled cast, who deliver strong performances across the board.

For a fantasy film, the movie remains grounded in a believable reality. Replace the amphibian man with a wrongly accused prisoner, for instance, and the movie would carry the exact same amount of emotional weight. Once you get past the asset’s slimy and scaly exterior, you find a heart of gold.

The Shape of Water has so many things to say about modern politics without getting overly preachy. Elisa’s desperation to help the asset is summed up in a line seen in almost all of the film’s previews. In response to Giles asking why they should help the asset because “it’s not even human” she signs back “if we do nothing neither are we.” So much can be unpacked in this one line and Ms. Hawkins’ performance increases the weight behind such sign language to a new level. Humans are unique in our ability to consciously assist others around us and unless those who are unaffected (like Giles and Zelda) step in there will never be any way to better the lives of others.

Most descriptions I have seen for The Shape of Water label it as a fantasy, romance, or horror film. Labels as simple and restrictive as these are not able to fit a movie as complex as this. Each of these genres definitely factors into the final film, but The Shape of Water is another entity. If you write off any of the above genres, still see this movie—it is easily the most beautiful story of the year and one that deserves to be seen on the big screen.

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