“It’s bad luck to kill a sea bird,” says one of the characters in the gothic psychological tale ‘The Lighthouse.’ Shot in a boxy black-and-white aspect ratio, director Robert Eggers takes the audience on a surreal and moody descent into madness. The story is loosely based on a real-life tragedy where two keepers were trapped inside a lighthouse for an extended period of time due to a turbulent storm. The film is downright weird but works thanks to stellar performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Waves crashing, birds cawing and a foghorn moaning are used to drive the characters to the edge of sanity. It effectively takes the audience to the same nightmare as the two men. For those that like their films impressionistic, ‘The Lighthouse’ is worth the journey.
The time is the late 1800s. Two men have arrived to work as “wickies,” keepers of a lighthouse on a jutting rock. Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) looks like the Gorton’s Fisherman. He’s been doing this kind of work for years. Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) is new to this line of work. He used to be a lumberjack that is looking for a fresh start. His contract is for four weeks on the island. Winslow soon realizes that his boss is tyrannical and the work is backbreaking. Aside from that, he is not permitted to enter the top of the lighthouse. Dafoe’s character speaks like a salty Atlantic fisherman while Pattinson’s character is a man of few words. The claustrophobia is palpable especially when Wake constantly farts around his apprentice.
Winslow seems ill-equipped to handle the backbreaking drudgery and isolation of the job. He’s constantly battling an angry seagull. He’s shoveling rocks back and forth across the island. He’s forced to drink alcohol with Wake during their evening meal together. Bizarre events begin to take their toll on his sanity. He has disturbing dreams of mermaids on the rocks and serpents lurking at the top of the lighthouse. He must endure long soliloquies from his boss. During a ferocious storm, the two men get drunk together. They sing, they dance and they get into a fist fight. Winslow tells him a secret that is followed by Wake repeatedly asking, “Why’d you spill your beans?”
As the waves crash against the rocks, they get on each other’s nerves. Without revealing too much, their relationship does not end well. So what does it all mean? Eggers is influenced by Greek mythology in ‘The Lighthouse.’ Proteus is a Sea God who Homer calls “Old Man of the Sea’ while Prometheus is the God of Fire. Pattinson’s character defies the gods by going up the staircase to the lighthouse like climbing Mount Olympus. The film essentially is concerned with identity. When we get to know these two men, they are both lying about who they are to each other. The fact that they have to live with each other in such close quarters reveals the truth. When Winslow finally sees the light, he understands everything and that’s too much for him to handle.
Director Robert Eggers exploded on the scene with the excellent 2015 ‘The Witch.’ This film establishes him as a true auteur. Good films linger with you. They don’t always answer all of your questions. They are thought-provoking and ask you to come up with your own interpretation. ‘The Lighthouse’ is one of those films. It is visually stunning featuring powerhouse performances from its two leads. It is must-see cinema!
