Director Yorgos Lanthimos is no stranger to the unusual. He makes movies that are a unique mix of social satire, dark comedy, and psychological elements. Some of his most famous movies are The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite. Both take stories of family and jealousy, respectively, and turn them into chilling morality tales. Poor Things, Lanthimos’s most recent crazy project, was no different. It showed that he loves telling strange and powerful stories. Even though each of these movies is unique and memorable, The Lobster (2015), the director’s absurdist comedy, is without a doubt one of his strangest.
Following the rules of The City, single people are sent to The Hotel and told they have 45 days to find a romantic partner. If they don’t, they are turned into animals and sent into The Woods.
The Lobster is a cult classic dark comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos that has an ambiguous ending, leaving audiences to wonder exactly what happened to the main character David. Let’s break down this bizarre movie and analyze the ambiguous ending.
Overview of The Lobster’s Plot
The film depicts a dystopian society where single people are given 45 days to find a romantic partner or be turned into an animal of their choosing David, played by Colin Farrell, is newly single and chooses to become a lobster if he fails to find a mate.
David is sent to a strange hotel where the guests try to find matches based on having things in common. There are many absurd rules and rituals at the hotel. David eventually is matched with a cruel woman but realizes they are incompatible.
He escapes the hotel and joins a rebel group called the Loners who live in the woods and forbid relationships. However, David develops a secret romance with a woman with bad eyesight. When their romance is discovered, David’s lover is blinded as punishment.
The Ambiguous Ending
In the final scene, David and his now blind lover are at a diner struggling to connect. David goes to the bathroom and takes a steak knife, contemplating blinding himself so they will have blindness in common.
The film ends with David bringing the knife near his face as he stands in front of the mirror. However, the screen cuts to black before viewers see if he actually blinds himself or not.
Interpretations of the Ambiguous Ending
There are a few ways to interpret this darkly ambiguous ending
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David goes through with blinding himself to restore the connection with his lover. This is an extremely bleak ending that shows how brainwashed David has become willing to maim himself to fit society’s coupling expectations.
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David decides against blinding himself but lies to his lover and says he did it, trying to trick her into thinking they are the same.
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David leaves his lover at the diner, realizing they have nothing substantial in common and giving up on forcing a relationship.
The director and lead actor have both given different takes, leaving the ending open to interpretation. It highlights the impossible choice David faces between defying society or maintaining his lover’s affection.
Themes and Analysis
The unanswered ending speaks to major themes in The Lobster:
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Dangers of forced conformity: The rules of David’s society, both at the hotel and with the Loners, represent oppressive forces limiting individuality. David’s willingness to blind himself shows how far conformity can go.
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Artificiality of “compatibility”: The absurd rules for matching people highlights how society tries to force connections based on superficial traits rather than actual compatibility.
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The desperation for love: David’s extreme actions by the end reveal how the human desire for love and connection can drive people to great lengths.
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Sacrificing integrity: David compromises his principles throughout the film to find a mate, including lying about his emotions and considering self-mutilation.
Ultimately, The Lobster uses its ambiguous finale to emphasize how far one man will go to find love and connection in a restrictive society, for better or worse. David’s final choice is left unknown, allowing the audience to question if his humanity is saved or lost.
What Is ‘The Lobster’ About?
The Lobster is set in a dystopian society where people have 45 days to find a romantic partner or else they will be turned into any animal they choose for good. David, played by Colin Farrell, is the main character of the story. He has to find a new partner after his wife leaves him. He says that if he fails, he would like to be turned into a lobster “because lobsters live over 100 years, are noble like aristocrats, and are fertile their whole lives.” ” But its not Davids intention to fail in his quest for new love. He is taken to a strange hotel where people are supposed to meet new people. It’s not exactly the resort spa that people might be expecting. The hotel has many strange rules, rituals, and practices. For example, self-pleasure is prohibited and guests are regularly subjected to propaganda about the benefits of romantic partnership. They can also delay the day they turn into animals by hunting the “Loners” in the nearby woods. These are people who have chosen to stay single in spite of social norms.
Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz Make a Bizarre Couple in ‘The Lobster’
David tries to find a partner several times, even though he is shy and quiet, until he finally seems to find a match in a cold and mean woman (Angeliki Papoulia). They are taken to the hotel’s couples area, where everything seems to be going well. But when David wakes up, he finds that the woman has killed his brother and turned him into a dog because he couldn’t find a partner. David can’t help but miss his brother or sister, which makes the woman threaten to tell the hotel staff about him. When she sees how David feels, she knows that he is not as compatible with the sociopathic woman as he led her to believe.
David is able to get out of the hotel and join the Loners colony before anyone can report him. When he gets there, he finds that the Loners’ beliefs are very different from those of the hotel. For example, they don’t allow any romance at all. However, even though he knows this, David starts a clandestine relationship with a short-sighted woman (Rachel Weisz). After all, they both share the flaw of having poor vision, making them instantly compatible.
David and his new partner are happy together until the leader of the Loner colony finds out about their relationship. The nearsighted woman is taken to the city and squinted because she broke the Loners’ rules against dating. She and David try to get to know each other and find things they have in common before leaving the colony for a new start in the city. But love knows no bounds. However, the short-sighted womans new disability makes finding common ground between them more difficult than they first thought.
The Lobster ending | best explanation
How does the lobster end?
The Lobster’s ending leaves it up to viewers to decide what course David takes and highlights the impossibility of the choice he faces. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things puts Emma Stone front and center. Her character, Bella, has quite the journey, and we break down the film’s ending.
How does David end the lobster?
He thinks there are three options; David blinds himself, he simply leaves without telling the Short-Sighted Woman, or he doesn’t go through with blinding himself but tells the woman he did. The Lobster’s ending leaves it up to viewers to decide what course David takes and highlights the impossibility of the choice he faces.
Did David stab himself in the lobster ending?
The Lobster ending raises a number of questions about the dark romantic comedy, including whether Colin Farrell’s character David stabbed and intentionally blinded himself or not. The movie is a surreal story about a lonely man named David who joins a matchmaking service that motivates people to find love by turning single people into animals.
Does David blind himself in the lobster ending?
The Lobster ending leaves viewers questioning whether David blinds himself or not, highlighting the impossible choice he faces in a relationship-obsessed society. The movie explores the shallow nature of romantic coupling, as David seeks a pairing with a short-sighted woman but struggles to connect with her.