Cannes Jury Prize-Winning ‘The Lobster’ is Released in Cinemas this Friday, October 16th
Irish co-production The Lobster, which won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will be released in Irish cinemas this Friday, October 16th.
The English-language debut from director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) received funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and was filmed in Co. Kerry. The Lobster is a love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules.
The film boasts a cast including Colin Farrell (Intermission), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), John C. Reilly (Chicago), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), Léa Seydoux (Spectre) and Michael Smiley (Glassland).
Following its premiere in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, The Lobster was met with critical acclaim. Donald Clarke in a 4 star review in The Irish Times commented that “You walk out feeling ever so slightly changed by it. There are few higher compliments.” Leslie Felperin in The Hollywood Reporter noted that “it might just be recognized as a classic example of a genre only now just beginning to form”, while Oliver Lyttelton on IndieWire said it was “Lanthimos' most accessible and purely enjoyable film yet, and the first great relationship movie of the Tinder and match.com age.”
The Lobster was written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou and produced by Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Ceci Dempsey and Yorgos Lanthimos. Executive Producers were Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross and Sam Lavender. The Lobster was developed by Element Pictures and Irish funding came from the IFB with Rory Gilmartin as the lead executive for the IFB.
Watch the trailer for The Lobster here.