Films The Lighthouse

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The Lighthouse poster

Film · 2019

The Lighthouse

Directed by Robert Eggers · starring Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson and Sully Seagull

  • 1 h 49 min
  • 15
  • Drama · Fantasy · Horror
  • USABrazil
  • Released in the UK 30 January 2020
  • 8.6 AverageMovieNCo
  • 7.2 Users16 votes
  • 10 Critics2 reviews
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Synopsis

Filmed in black and white, this horror film transports us to a little island on the high seas of Maine, Nova Scotia, at the beginning of the 20th century. There, the only two main characters of this film, a veteran lighthouse keeper (Williem Dafoe, 'At Eternity's Gate') and his young assistant (Robert Pattinson, 'High Life'), will have to live together for four weeks. The tranquil state in which their lives appear to unfold changes forever when a supernatural event linked to one of the most well-known and infamous maritime myths hits the coast.

'The Lighthouse' is hailed as a feature film that examines the nuances of power and dominance in the relationship between its two characters, two men that little by little find themselves pushed to brutal behaviour balanced with rare moments of mutual understanding under the effects of alcohol. Meanwhile, the isolation in which they have to live generates a certain sexual tension underpinned by a morbid desire for death as the progressive spiral of secrets begins to weigh heavy on their consciences.

The film is directed by Robert Eggers ('The Witch'), an expert in psychological horror cinema, who will immerse the viewers in a perceptive and paranoid chaos in which the limit boundary the real world and the imaginary world is inevitably blurred.

Where to watch The Lighthouse

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Available now in the UK:

The essentials

Runtime
109 min1 hour and 49 minutes
Box office
$3.6min US
Rating
15Suitable only for 15 years and over
How long is The Lighthouse?
1 hour and 49 minutes (109 minutes).
When was The Lighthouse released in the UK?
It was released in the UK on 30 January 2020.
Who directed The Lighthouse?
Robert Eggers.
Who is in The Lighthouse?
It stars Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson and Sully Seagull.
Where can I watch The Lighthouse?
In the UK it is available with a subscription on Prime Video.
How much did The Lighthouse make?
It took $3.6 million in US.
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Cast

Full cast (17)
Director
Robert Eggers
Writers
Robert Eggers, Max Eggers
Producers
Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Robert Eggers, Youree Henley
Cinematography
Jarin Blaschke

Videos and trailers

All 3 videos
'The Lighthouse' trailer 1:3129 July 2019

Photos and posters

All 13 photos

Reviews

All 11 reviews
7.2 16 votes
  • 1013 %
  • 931 %
  • 813 %
  • 76 %
  • 613 %
  • ≤525 %

What the critics say average 10 from 2 outlets

  • 10 The TelegraphRobbie Collin It won't leave you indifferent. It's the kind of cinema that resonates both in your mind and in your soul. Read
  • 10 The GuardianPeter Bradshaw Few movies manage to scare and excite at the same time. Like the ray of light that a lighthouse casts, this work is as dangerous as it is dazzling. Read
  • FotogramasManu Yáñez An indomitable film that throws swings in the most varied directions. Dafoe and Pattinson star in the most intense acting duel this critic can remember since Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master'. Read

Box office

Weekend by weekend
  • US $3.6m
  • UK £384,284

Awards

All the awards

Soundtrack

All 6 songs
  1. Monday MorningWillem Dafoe
  2. Tis BrassworkBased on the Poem, quot, Brasswork, The Light, Keepers Lament
  3. How We Got Back To The Woods Last YearRobert Pattinson
  4. Homeward BoundWillem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson Spotify

Trivia

All 7 facts

  • Silences throughout the shoot

    Both Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have claimed that the film's conditions were so demanding that they barely spoke to each other during filming.

  • The accents

    Dafoe's accent is the jargon of Atlantic fishermen and sailors of the time, while Pattinson's character's lines are based off a very specific Maine farming dialect.

  • Different actors, different methods

    Before filming began, Dafoe and Pattinson rehearsed with Robert Eggers for a week in a hotel in Halifax. While Dafoe loved to rehearse given his extensive theatre background, Pattinson didn't want to show and let out too much beforehand, prefering to jump into the scene blindly. He found the rehearsal process frustrating and uncomfortable, being used to react impulsively infront of the camera and getting self-conscious by thinking too much about the scene beforehand. His method being, that if he accomplishes certain things in rehearsal, it will later ruin the spontaneity infront of the camera. Director Robert Eggers welcomed that the two worked so differently and stated: "They have this incredible, electric chemistry on screen, but it was chemistry through tension. That couldn't have been better for the movie."

  • Technical aspects

    Since the film is set in 1890, it was shot on 35mm black and white Double-X 5222 film, all while augmenting the Panavision Millennium XL2 camera with vintage Baltar lenses from as early as 1918 to as late as 1938. This makes the aspect ratio approximately 1.19:1, which is practically square. To enhance the image and make it resemble early photography, a custom cyan filter made by Schneider Filters emulated the look and feel of orthochromatic film from the late 19th century.

  • Influences

    The story is very loosely based on a real-life tragedy from 1801, in which two Welsh lighthouse keepers, both named Thomas, became trapped on their lighthouse station during a storm. Other influences were seafaring literary classics by Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson, and supernaturally tinged weird tales of H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood.

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