The Lighthouse

After a gruelling 8 month wait from its Cannes Film Festival premiere in May 2019, Robert Eggers’ The Lighthousehas finally come to UK cinemas. Produced and distributed by A24,The Lighthouseis yet another horror-thriller unlike any other.

After his successful debut with The Witch, Eggers looked to go one further with his folktales, focusing on the upkeep of an isolated lighthouse. Set in the 1890s, Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) is sent on a four week contract as Thomas Wake’s (Willem Dafoe) wickie, Wake an irritable elderly man who spends most of his time drunkenly rambling on about his days at sea. Winslow is forced to routinely work the hard jobs such as disposing of their chamber pots as well as carrying rocks and containers. All the while Wake tends to the lantern room, something that Winslow has been locked out of. With the forbidden fruit at an arm’s grasp and the storm’s tide changing, Winslow and Wake soon find themselves trapped with only each other’s company and limitless bottles of alcohol.

Originally attempted as an adaption of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Light-House’, Eggers and his brother Max decided to co-write their own version instead. As well as basing their writing on Maine-based author Sarah Orne Jewett’s work, the distinct sailor dialogue is one of the key aspects of the film in believing the authenticity of this project, superstars Dafoe and Pattinson are unrecognisable as the foul-mouthed seamen. Their bodily actions doing as much as their facial expressions, with Dafoe’s farts building up the conflict between them more than any storm ever could.

With its limited cast and location many may wonder how this film can run for 109 minutes but Eggers provides phenomenal work in all departments. In a square 1.19:1 aspect ratio and black and white 35mm film with a vintage aesthetic to evoke 19thcentury photography, the cinematography is some of the best work from recent years, rightfully deserving it’s nomination at the Oscars. Although the visuals have gained the accolades, the sound design is the highlight of the film. It knows when to be silent and it knows when to strike you with the echoes of faraway horns as well as the mechanical machinery of the lighthouse. Shot on 1930s lenses, the mechanical imagery and sound is reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

The film’s tone is parallel to the clamorous audio that accompanies it. Although it appears as black and white, the film is more black and grey, offering no real salvation or redemption for these characters. They’re stuck here and there’s only output left for them as their rations and sanity slowly slips away.But much like The Witch, Eggers is able to evoke the sense of mystery that unravels as the film progresses.

Whilst it keeps some elements hidden, there is no grand reveal or rise of tension like The Witch. The film is of two halves, with the first being a folk’s tale depiction of two grotesque men and the other becoming a descent into madness. There is one specific event to categorise this switch and it may leave a lot of its general viewers lost when it occurs, but fans of Eggers or A24 in general will be further on board than they were before. It’s a film inherently like anything else and for that it will presumably stand out from A24’s already packed catalogue.