The Shape of Water is a 2017 American romantic dark fantasy adventure film directed by Guillermo del Torro and produced by Guillermo del Torro and J. Miles Dale. The screenplay was written by Guillermo del Torro and Vanessa Tayler and is based on the story by Guillermo del Torro.
Rated: R (movie contains sexual content, graphic nudity, violence and language)
Run Time: 2h 3min
Release Date: December 22, 2017 (USA)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Director: Guillermo del Torro
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Shape of Water stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones, David Hewlett, Lauren Lee Smith, Nick Searcy and Martin Roach.
The Shape of Water is the story of Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a janitorial cleaner working at a secret government laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland during at the height of the Cold War. Elisa works along side her friend Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer) who is acts as her interpreter at work because Elisa is unable to speak. As a result, she communicates using sign language because she lost the ability to speak as a child after being found abandoned by the side of a river with wounds on her neck. Elisa lives alone in an apartment above an old movie theater and lives next-door to her neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) who is a middle-aged struggling advertising illustrator and over the years has learned to communicate with Elisa.
The facility receives a mysterious creature captured from the Amazon River by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) who is placed in charge of studying the creature. Believing it is just a wild beast, Strickland treats it brutally, repeatedly shocking it with an electric cattle prod. Curious about the creature, Elisa discovers it is a male humanoid amphibian (Doug Jones) and intrigued, begins visiting him in secret and the two form a close bond as she teaches him sign language while giving him food and playing music for him.
Movie Quotes
“Man is as silent as the grave. But if farts were flattery? Honey, he’d be Shakespeare.” – Zelda
“We can do nothing! I’m sorry! But this, this this is just… Oh God, it’s not even human. God!” – Giles
“If we do nothing, neither are we.” – Elisa
“He’s a wild creature. We can’t ask him to be anything else.” – Giles
“The natives in the Amazon worshiped it. Like a god. We need to take it apart, learn how it works.” – Strickland
Official Movie Trailer
Movie Stars
Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito
Michael Shannon as Richard Strickland
Richard Jenkins as Giles
Octavia Spencer as Zelda Fuller
Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Robert Hoffstetler
Doug Jones as Amphibian Man
David Hewlett as Fleming
Lauren Lee Smith as Elaine Strickland
Nick Searcy as General Hoyt
Martin Roach as Brewster Fuller