The Shape of Water
An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.
Critics Sentiment
The Amphibian Man heals Elisa in the canal, revealing her neck scars are gills
Elisa and the Amphibian Man become sexually intimate in her flooded apartment
The film swings from its lowest point at the sexual intimacy scene (6.2), which divided reviewers most sharply, up to the transcendent closing image of Elisa reviving with gills in the canal (8.6), a rise of 2.4 points that represents the film's most dramatic emotional reversal.
The Shape of Water opens with strong audience goodwill built on del Toro's dreamlike visuals and Sally Hawkins's wordless performance, sustains high scores through the creature's introduction and the ensemble rescue, then dips in its middle third where the sexual relationship and spy-thriller violence proved divisive. The film recovers powerfully in its final minutes, with the fairy-tale ending widely praised as emotionally resonant and thematically complete, landing the overall arc just above its IMDb mean.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 39
Sally Hawkins
Elisa Esposito
Michael Shannon
Richard Strickland
Richard Jenkins
Giles
Octavia Spencer
Zelda Fuller
Michael Stuhlbarg
Dr. Robert Hoffstetler
Doug Jones
Amphibian Man
David Hewlett
Fleming
Nick Searcy
General Hoyt
Stewart Arnott
Bernard
Nigel Bennett
Mihalkov
Lauren Lee Smith
Elaine Strickland
Martin Roach
Brewster Fuller
Allegra Fulton
Yolanda
John Kapelos
Mr. Arzounian
Morgan Kelly
Pie Guy
Marvin Kaye
Burly Russian
Dru Viergever
Military Policeman
Wendy Lyon
Sally (Secretary)
Cody Ray Thompson
Guard
Diego Fuentes
Worker
Crew
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