Echoes in the Abyss: Deconstructing Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water

🤫 Elisa's Solitary World

In 1962 Baltimore, Elisa Esposito, a mute janitor with scars on her neck from infancy, navigates a solitary existence. She communicates through sign language, residing in an apartment above a cinema. Her only confidantes are Giles, her closeted middle-aged neighbor and advertising illustrator, and Zelda, her outspoken coworker. Their lives are routine until the arrival of a mysterious asset at the government laboratory where Elisa works.

🤝 A Bond Forged in Secrecy

Colonel Richard Strickland brings a unique captive to the facility: a humanoid amphibian creature, captured from a South American river. Elisa, through her clandestine visits, forms an extraordinary bond with this creature. However, driven by the Space Race, Strickland persuades General Frank Hoyt to authorize the vivisection of the Amphibian Man to study its respiratory system. Dr. Robert Hoffstetler, a Soviet spy masquerading as a scientist, attempts to preserve the creature for study while secretly being ordered by his handlers to eliminate it.

🏃‍♀️ The Escape and Healing

Learning of the creature's impending fate, Elisa enlists Giles's reluctant help, who later agrees after facing personal and professional rejections. Hoffstetler also aids her, and eventually, Zelda joins the conspiracy. They successfully relocate the Amphibian Man to Elisa's apartment, where she keeps him in her bathtub, planning to release him into a canal during heavy rain. Strickland's interrogations yield no immediate results, but the creature's health deteriorates. During an encounter, the Amphibian Man slashes Giles's arm, but later heals it and even causes Giles's hair to regrow, revealing its restorative powers. Elisa and the creature's bond deepens, culminating in a romantic relationship.

💔 Climax and Transformation

General Hoyt imposes a 36-hour deadline on Strickland to recover the creature. Hoffstetler, meeting his handlers, is shot by Strickland, who then tortures the dying spy for the creature's location. Strickland learns of Elisa's involvement through Zelda's husband and discovers her plan. At the canal, as Elisa and Giles prepare to release the creature, Strickland intervenes, shooting both the Amphibian Man and Elisa. Giles, regaining consciousness, fights Strickland, allowing the creature to heal itself and fatally slash Strickland's throat. The Amphibian Man then takes Elisa into the canal, where his healing touch transforms her neck scars into gills, reviving her. The film concludes with Elisa and the Amphibian Man embracing underwater, implying a shared existence beyond the human world.

💡 Genesis of an Idea

The concept for The Shape of Water originated in December 2011 during a breakfast conversation between Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus. Del Toro's primary inspiration stemmed from his childhood fascination with the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon, specifically his desire to see the Gill-man and female lead, Kay Lawrence, achieve a successful romance. He had previously attempted to pitch a creature-centric remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon to Universal, but his vision of the creature and female lead ending up together was rejected by studio executives. The film also shares thematic similarities with the 2015 short film The Space Between Us.

🎭 Casting the Vision

Guillermo del Toro specifically wrote the lead role of Elisa Esposito with Sally Hawkins in mind, having admired her work in films like Fingersmith and Happy-Go-Lucky. He famously pitched the idea to her while at the 2014 Golden Globes. Hawkins prepared for the role by studying silent comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, with del Toro suggesting she observe Stan Laurel for his ability to convey "a state of grace without conveying it verbally." Doug Jones, a frequent collaborator with del Toro, was chosen to portray the Amphibian Man. Jones, initially apprehensive about the romantic aspect, embraced the challenge, practicing animalistic and regal movements, even drawing inspiration from matadors. The Amphibian Man's voice was crafted by sound editor Nathan Robitaille, blending his own vocalizations, animal sounds, and del Toro's breathing. Richard Jenkins was cast as Giles after Ian McKellen, the initial choice, was unavailable. Michael Shannon, cast as the villain Richard Strickland, engaged in early discussions with del Toro about how Strickland might have been perceived as a hero in a 1950s film, a concept that intrigued the actor. Octavia Spencer, playing Zelda, noted the irony that the mute protagonist's interpreters were characters from disenfranchised groups.

📍 Filming Locations & Aesthetic Choices

Principal photography commenced on August 15, 2016, in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, concluding on November 6, 2016. The interior scenes of the Orpheum movie theater were filmed at Toronto's Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, while the exterior utilized the façade of Massey Hall. Elisa and Giles's apartments, depicted as being above the Orpheum, were actually a set constructed at Cinespace Studios in West Toronto. Portions of the government laboratory were shot in the Humanities Wing of the John Andrews Building at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Del Toro initially contemplated shooting the film in black and white but ultimately opted for color when Fox Searchlight Pictures offered a larger budget for a color production. He expressed that while black and white would have been "luscious," color allowed for a more immersive, less postmodern reflection. Del Toro described the project as a "healing movie" that enabled him to explore themes of trust, otherness, sex, and love.

🎶 The Sonic Landscape

Composer Alexandre Desplat met with del Toro three years prior to the film's release to discuss its premise. After viewing a rough cut in January 2017, Desplat agreed to compose the score, perceiving the film as akin to a musical. He meticulously incorporated the sound of water to evoke a "warm feeling" associated with love, noting that the opening melody was "actually made of waves." The six-week composition process aimed to create a sense of immersion, making the audience feel as though they were floating. Two distinct melodies, including "Elisa's Theme," are introduced early in the film and gradually merge, with Desplat subtly altering the sounds of flutes, accordions, and whistles to achieve a "blurred" effect. He intentionally refrained from giving Strickland a distinct melody. The soundtrack was released on December 1, 2017, by Decca Records, and Desplat's work earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Desplat remarked that working on such a beautiful film, which he considered a masterpiece, made his creative process significantly easier.

💰 Box Office Performance

The Shape of Water achieved a global box office gross of $195.2 million, with $63.9 million from the United States and Canada, and $131.4 million from other international markets. Following a successful three-week limited release that garnered $4.6 million, the film expanded widely on December 22, 2017. It earned $3 million from 726 theaters over its wide opening weekend, accumulating $4.4 million over the four-day Christmas period. A significant boost in earnings occurred the weekend of January 27, 2018, after its 13 Oscar nominations were announced, leading to an additional $5.9 million from over 1,000 added theaters, marking a 171% increase from the previous week. Post-Oscars, the film continued to perform well, adding $2.4 million the weekend of March 9–11, a 64% increase from the prior week, mirroring the post-Best Picture win performance of Moonlight (2016).

📝 Critical Consensus

The film received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 53 critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 92% based on 465 reviews, with an average score of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus praised Guillermo del Toro's "visually distinctive best" and an "emotionally absorbing story brought to life by a stellar Sally Hawkins performance." Ben Croll of IndieWire awarded the film an 'A' rating, hailing it as "one of del Toro's most stunningly successful works" and a "powerful vision of a creative master feeling totally, joyously free." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone lauded Hawkins's performance, cinematography, and del Toro's direction, noting that the core relationship "holds us in thrall." Haley Bennett of the Minnesota Daily found the film "elegant and mesmerizing," possessing a "tenderness uncommon to del Toro films."

🗣️ Divergent Views

Despite widespread praise, some critics offered less favorable assessments. Rex Reed of the New York Observer gave the film one out of four stars, dismissing it as "a loopy, lunkheaded load of drivel." Reed's review drew criticism for mischaracterizing Hawkins's mute character as "mentally handicapped" and for incorrectly attributing the film's direction to Benicio del Toro. The film also appeared on numerous critics' year-end top-ten lists, with 25 critics selecting it as their favorite film of 2017. In a 2025 "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," the film ranked at number 227, indicating its lasting, albeit varied, impact on audiences.

📝 The Zindel Lawsuit

In February 2018, the estate of playwright Paul Zindel filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Guillermo del Toro and associate producer Daniel Kraus. The lawsuit alleged that The Shape of Water "brazenly copies the story, elements, characters, and themes" of Zindel's 1969 play, "Let Me Hear You Whisper." Zindel's work features a cleaning lady who bonds with a dolphin and attempts to rescue it from a secret research laboratory. The complaint detailed "overwhelming similarities" between the two works. Del Toro vehemently denied the claims, stating he had never read or seen the play before making his film, and his collaborators had never mentioned it. Fox Searchlight Pictures, the distributor, also denied the claims and pledged to "vigorously defend" itself. In July 2018, Judge Percy Anderson dismissed the suit, and in April 2021, Zindel's son, David Zindel, released a statement acknowledging that, based on confidential information obtained during litigation, his claims of plagiarism were unfounded and that Guillermo del Toro was the true creator of The Shape of Water, with any similarities being coincidental.

🇷🇺 Comparisons to "Amphibian Man"

Accusations of plagiarism also arose concerning the 1962 Soviet film Amphibian Man, which was based on Alexander Belyaev's 1928 novel of the same name. Indie Cinema Magazine highlighted several parallels, including a similar plot involving a romantic relationship between a human and an amphibious man held captive, the use of the term "Amphibian Man," a Soviet connection in both narratives, and the shared 1962 setting. Amphibian Man was a highly successful Soviet film, with over 100 million box office admissions in the Soviet Union.

🇫🇷 Jeunet's Allegations and Other Similarities

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, known for films like Amélie and Delicatessen, also accused del Toro of plagiarizing scenes from his own works, including Amélie, Delicatessen, and The City of Lost Children. Jeunet pointed to similarities in color saturation, art direction, the use of anthropomorphic objects, and musical style reminiscent of Yann Tiersen's soundtrack for Amélie. Del Toro, in response, cited the influence of Terry Gilliam's works on The Shape of Water. Both del Toro and composer Alexandre Desplat have also referenced French composer Georges Delerue, whose work predates Tiersen's, as an inspiration for the film's score, with Desplat emphasizing the integral role of water in both the music and themes. Furthermore, comparisons were drawn between The Shape of Water and Marc S. Nollkaemper's 2015 short film "The Space Between Us," a student project. Both films shared a premise of a janitorial worker falling in love with an amphibious man in a research facility, along with other similarities such as the time period, scenes of feeding the creature, dancing to records, and rescue missions involving laundry carts. However, the Netherlands Film Academy and its students issued a statement affirming that the films had separate development timelines and were not interlinked or related.

🤔 Critique of the Romance

Despite widespread acclaim, a significant critique of The Shape of Water centers on the romantic relationship between Elisa and the Amphibian Man. While del Toro's intention to highlight the "beauty of the Other" is acknowledged, some viewers, particularly disability activists like Dominick Evans, found the messaging problematic. They argued that the film could be interpreted as suggesting that individuals with disabilities are so fundamentally different from mainstream society that they can only find love and respect from a "monster." This sentiment is exacerbated by the film's ending, where Elisa and the creature appear to depart from the human world. Critics suggest this could imply that if people with disabilities do not conform to societal norms, their best option is to leave. Thus, while many celebrate the film as a powerful love story where marginalized individuals discover strength and affection, others are left to ponder their own societal acceptance and humanity.

📜 References