The Lobster · reception & legacy
2015 · Yorgos Lanthimos
How The Lobster has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
It won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2015 and instantly split audiences — walkouts and raves in equal measure — but a decade on it's settled in as the gateway Lanthimos film, the one that took Greek Weird Wave deadpan mainstream and set up The Favourite and Poor Things.
What's debated
The perennial fight: the hotel half is perfect and the second half loses the thread — versus those who insist the back stretch is the whole point.
Its footprint
The premise escaped the film entirely — 'if I don't find a partner I'll be turned into an animal' became standing shorthand for dating-app despair, and 'what animal would you be?' is a party question the film permanently annexed.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd staple and modern cult favourite — the standard 'start here' recommendation for anyone entering the Lanthimos universe.