Overview
In a world where love is a matter of life and death, finding a partner becomes a race against time.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- deadpan
- witty
- eerie
- thoughtful movie night
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised its ambitious, visually striking deadpan satire and unexpectedly moving treatment of romantic conformity, while acknowledging that its eccentricity makes it an acquired taste.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Single people are arrested, confined to a hotel, and required to find matching partners within forty-five days.
Characters deliver bizarre observations and threats with rigidly restrained affect throughout the hotel and woodland communities.
Hotel residents seek partners by identifying convenient physical or behavioral similarities, evoking dating-market algorithms and snap judgments.
The hotel regulates dating, assigns relationship rules, and transforms romantic failure into an administrative punishment.
Films like The Lobster, and why
Dogtooth
shares deadpan absurdism, dystopian social satire, and discomforting institutional control
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
shares surreal speculative world-building, romantic longing, and bleakly comic social critique
Her
shares offbeat romance, alienating social conventions, and melancholy absurdist humor
Brazil
shares dystopian bureaucracy, stylized unease, and absurdist examination of conformity
Movie Details
- Director
- Yorgos Lanthimos
- Release Date
- 2015-10-15
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (7107)
Cast
- Colin Farrell
- Rachel Weisz
- Olivia Colman
- Léa Seydoux
- Michael Smiley
- Ariane Labed
- John C. Reilly
- Ben Whishaw
- Angeliki Papoulia
- Jessica Barden
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel, HBO Max, Cinemax Apple TV channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Lobster about?
- In a near-future society that criminalizes being single, a lonely man must manufacture romantic compatibility before the state turns him into an animal.
- What is The Lobster like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Lobster as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Lobster violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Lobster as mild.
- What did critics think of The Lobster?
- Critics broadly praised its ambitious, visually striking deadpan satire and unexpectedly moving treatment of romantic conformity, while acknowledging that its eccentricity makes it an acquired taste.
- Which films are like The Lobster?
- Films with a similar feel include Dogtooth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Her, and Brazil.
- How long is The Lobster?
- The Lobster runs 119 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Lobster?
- In United States, The Lobster streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel, HBO Max, Cinemax Apple TV channel.
