The Shape of Water

AS SOON as the end credits start rolling, you’ll realise that this movie is a beautiful telling of a conventional love story set in an unconventional setting.

Director Del Toro’s latest masterpiece depicts the blossoming of a relationship between Elisa (Hawkins), a mute cleaner at a high-level government facility, and an amphibious man-like creature (Doug Jones), referred to as the asset by his captors.

Elisa lives her days of routine solitude, mostly only interacting with fellow janitor Zelda (Spencer), and neighbour and close friend Giles (Jenkins).

When the cleaning ladies are told to clean up blood in a secured room where they work, they discover the asset, brought in by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), who found him in the South American rivers where the natives treat him like a god.

The film is set in the 60s, at a time when the Americans were looking for an edge against the Soviets in space exploration, and hopes the asset can prove to be useful, whether dead or alive.

Del Toro makes The Shape of Water appealing by showing Elisa as a character not necessarily lonely, but more a person longing for a connection where the other party understands her for who she is.

The innocence and purity of the bond they share can be felt in almost every take they are in together, with the flooded bathroom embrace, in particular, a stunning scene.

The romance between the two in this fantasy drama can be liken to that of Star-Lord and Gomora in Guardians of the Galaxy, where one partner is not human.

Of course, in The Shape of Water, there are not many other apparent inter-species relationships, and it happens in an entirely different context from the Marvel movie, yet, the romantic possibilities remain the same.

Del Toro’s moving film certainly does not disappoint.