Once upon a time there was the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Once upon a time there was a visionary director and once upon a time there was a big studio that wanted a remake. The visionary director asked the big studio to do it from the point of view of the creature. The big studio said no. So the visionary director wrote the Shape of Water.
Gathered twenty million dollars, the visionary director started working in order to give life to those words on paper. Perhaps his heart was not very light in undertaking the task. In fact his last effort (known as Crimson Peak) haven’t really been what can be called a success. But despite this, he was not discouraged.
At the center of the story that needed to be told there was an apparently monstrous creature and a voiceless woman. The themes dealt with are: trust, love, sex, otherness. But underneath all of that the visionary director wanted to talk about humanity. What makes a form of life worthy of empathy and compassion. The value of our existence, however our skin looks like, white, black or covered with scales. Whoever we love, people of the opposite sex, of the same or of a completely different species. May our throat be able to make sounds or not.
Between toupee, gangrenous fingers, lime pies, incapable husbands and decapitated cats, everything has a meaning. Layer upon layer of symbolism like the veiling of an oil painting. The future in the world that the visionary director has created is green. A sometimes toxic and synthetic color, sometimes pure and primordial. The future of the director, on the other hand, seems to be gold. The color of the most wanted statuette in the industry. ‘Cause tale of the intrepid visionary has earned thirteen nominations. Too many? Perhaps, or perhaps no.
The story is dark and bright, cruel and reassuring, magical and real. The visionary has the courage to let the images speak, to submer the main themes of the story in depth and the only way to catch them is to peer through the shape of water. The ending of this story? The visionary director made his best work since Pan’s Labyrinth, the big studio probably regretted its decision and the creature of the black lagoon found his best reincarnation for our times. The end.