Shape of Water, The

The Shape of Water is an American feature film of the fantasy and romance genres. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, with a screenplay co-written by Vanessa Taylor. It was produced by Double Dare You, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and TSG Entertainment. It premiered theatrically in the United States on December 22nd, 2017.

Synopsis
It is the year 1962, and a government scientific research team has discovered a bizarre amphibian man in South America, which they transport to an underground facility in Baltimore, Maryland. The Federal government spearheads research concerning this phenomenon, and they want to dissect and study the specimen for purposes of human adaptation, which they intend on using in order to help astronauts endure the rigors of space travel. The lead scientist at the facility is a man named Fleming, but his authority is superseded by a government agent named Richard Strickland, who is the man responsible for acquiring the amphibian man to begin with. Strickland's superior is a man named General Hoyt.

Working at the facility is a mute woman named Elisa Esposito. She is friends and co-workers with a black woman named Zelda Fuller. Elisa lives with a middle-aged man named Giles, who is a frustrated homosexual artist, and her best friend.

Another scientist working at the facility is Doctor Robert "Bob" Hoffstetler. In reality however, he is a Russian spy named Dmitri, who is fielding reports about the creature to his superiors. It is their intent to either obtain the specimen for themselves, or failing that, destroy it, so that the Americans cannot gain any knowledge that might give them an edge over the Communists.

Richard Strickland, who is a cruel and obsessive man, torments the creature, on a regular basis. The creature fights back though, and succeeds in biting off two of his fingers. Elisa and Zelda are brought in to clean up the blood, and Elisa's curiosity leads her to discover this aquatic phenomenon in its containment canister. Elisa begins creating reasons to sneak into the room housing the amphibian man. She begins teaching him sign language and feeds him eggs that she brings in from home. A strong bond begins to form between the two, and Elisa can relate to the creature, feeling that as a mute, she too is "incomplete".

When the order comes down that the amphibian man is to be killed and dissected, Elisa feels compelled to do something. She entreats Giles, and to a lesser extent, Zelda, to help her rescue the creature and break it out of the facility.

Bob Hoffstetler also has a vested interest in keeping the creature alive, as he believes it to be a scientific miracle, and does not want either the Americans or his Russian overseers to destroy it. Bob sets the stage to distract the facility's staff so that Elisa can extricate the creature.

She brings the gill man to the home that she shares with Giles, feeds it more eggs, plays music records for him, and then has sex with it. Yes, you read that correctly. She actually fucks the fish man. Elisa leaves for work, leaving Giles in charge of babysitting the creature. The fish man is startled by one of Giles' hissing cats, so he eats it. When Giles tries to keep the creature calm, he slashes at him across his arm. Later, the amphibian man demonstrates the ability to heal injuries by healing Giles' arm wound. This has the added bonus of even restoring some of his hair. When word gets out that the creature has disappeared from the facility, General Hoyt makes a personal appearance and very pointedly tells Strickland that failure to recapture the asset will cost him his career.

Elisa waits until conditions are optimal to bring the amphibian man to the canal, where he can be loosed into the ocean - forever free of torment and torture.

Meanwhile, Bob Hoffstetler goes to a pre-arranged rendezvous site to meet with his handlers. The Russians realize that he is no longer working in their best interest, so they shoot him. Before they can finish him off however, Strickland arrives and shoots the Russians. Upon learning that Bob was actually a Communist spy, he violently interrogates him and learns that Elisa and Zelda are responsible for the fish man's escape.

Strickland goes to the canal where he finds Elisa and Giles preparing to set the creature free. He shoots the amphibian and Elisa, but the creature reacts by slashing Strickland across the throat, killing him. The creature then uses its powers to heal himself, as well as Elisa. When Elisa heals, she discovers that she now has gills on the side of her neck. The two lovers go into the canal to live happily ever after.

Notes & Trivia

 * The Shape of Water redirects to this page.


 * Production on The Shape of Water began on August 15th, 2016. Principal filming concluded on November 6th, 2016.


 * This movie was filmed in parts of Toronto, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.


 * There are a total of thirty-six credited cast members in this film.


 * The central setting for this movie is Baltimore, Maryland in the year 1962.


 * Guillermo del Toro created this film as basically a love letter to The Creature from the Black Lagoon.


 * The Amphibian Man bears some similarities to Abe Sapien, who was an underwater creature from the Hellboy comic book franchise. The character also appeared in the 2004 feature film version of Hellboy, which was also directed by Guillermo del Toro.


 * Director Guillermo del Toro also provides the voice of the Amphibian man at the end of this film.


 * Female frontal nudity: Elisa Esposito disrobes in order to take a bath and to have sex with the Amphibian Man. Female frontal nudity is presented.
 * Female rear nudity: Elisa Esposito disrobes in order to take a bath and to have sex with the Amphibian Man. Female rear nudity is presented.
 * Female topless nudity: Elisa Esposito disrobes in order to take a bath. Female frontal nudity is presented. Elaine Strickland exposes one breast to seduce her husband, Richard.
 * Male rear nudity: The Amphibian Man shows his big ol' fishy butt.
 * Masturbation: Elisa's arm movements in the bath tub indicate that she is masturbating.
 * Profanity: Minimal usage of strong language. The words "Shit" and "Fuck" are used the most. Elisa also signs "Fuck You" to Strickland.

Recommendations

 * Creature from the Black Lagoon
 * Creature Walks Among Us, The
 * Hellboy
 * Revenge of the Creature

Keywords
Bus | Cats | Coffin | Cold War | Dead animals | Eaten alive | Female frontal nudity | Female topless nudity | Fish | Gunshot victims | Healing touch | Homophobia | Homosexuality | Laboratory | Male rear nudity | Mask | Masturbation | Military units | Profanity | Racism | Severed fingers | Shot in the head | Slit throat | Throat injuries | Torture