Colin Farrell stars in “The Lobster,” which is set in a dystopian society where it’s illegal to be single. Anyone whose significant other leaves them has 45 days to find a new mate or they will be turned into an animal. Upon arriving at the hotel where he’ll spend (potentially) the last 45 days of his life as a human, he is asked to choose an animal he’d like to be. His choice: A Lobster.

Accompanying him is his brother, who, having failed to find a mate in time, is now a dog. Several wild animals who used to be human, including a pig and a peacock, roam the nearby woods.

Since this is a very dark comedy, there isn’t a happy ending for anyone, including the dog.

ANIMAL SPOILERS AHEAD:

Animal death warning: 

David (Colin’s character) decides his best option for a new mate is The Heartless Woman. He pretends to be as heartless as she is, since couples in his society need to have an obvious physical or personality trait in common to be considered a match.  She agrees they are a match, which means they are granted a “honeymoon” period as a couple. She suspects he’s not truly as heartless as her. He wakes one morning to see that she has blood on her leg. At first he thinks she’s joking when she says she kicked his brother to death, but he goes into the bathroom to find it’s sadly all too true.

He ends up escaping into the woods where the other single people live to avoid being turned into animals. There, he meets and falls for the Short-Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz). As part of his courtship, he kills some rabbits (which may or may not have been human at one point) for her.

Read my capsule review at Forces of Geek.