Review: "The Lighthouse" is a Discomforting Hallucination of Pure Joy

Scene from The Lighthouse (2019)

In the world of Robert Eggers, the idea of isolation is a horrifying reality. His debut The Witch followed a family outcasted to the edge of town, forced to deal helplessly with the demons that lay in the forest. It was a horrifying film, exploring the struggles of faith as personal demons ate every character whole. The same can be said for The Lighthouse, with two men watching a lighthouse and doing everything to stay sane on an abandoned island. Unlike The Witch, The Lighthouse falls more into the realm of a dark comedy, becoming more disturbing in its humor as each bottle of liquor goes down, eventually splashing over their chins as they dance recklessly. They can't escape the island until the storm passes, but how long will that be? A day, a week, a month? It's a tale of survival that finds Eggers once again diving into the muck of humanity to find something equally repulsive and amazing. With a career-best performance by Robert Pattinson, the film is a haunted sea shanty that will drive everyone nuts - and that's only half of the fun. 

In the late 19th century, sailors Winslow (Pattinson) and Thomas (Willem Dafoe) arrive for a two-week stint of lighthouse keeping. For Winslow, it's a break from his mundane life as a lumberjack, believing that this quick stint will pay for a lot of personal debts. Thomas is the seasoned vet, whose language features the familiar "yer's" that have become tropes in nautical characters. Thomas is the crank with stories to spare, finding symbolism in the sea that helps to create it into a spiritual beast. This includes believing that "seabirds" (seagulls) have the souls of sailors who died and didn't fare too well in heaven. To kill a seabird was a sin, creating a curse that could last for eternity. It's where Winslow goes wrong, going crazy from Thomas' incessant orders and cantankerous attitude. He unconsciously farts every time his legs bend, and the lack of tasty meals only makes Winslow crazier.

As the story progresses, it becomes more of a personal journey for Winslow. Whereas Thomas is used to the isolation, it eventually wears on Winslow to the point that the vision can best be described as a hallucination. Thomas gets on his nerves. He imagines a mermaid coming to shore, calling him into a sensuous affair. He can only be celibate for so long, maintaining a professional attitude that is constantly being tested in favor of a lighthouse: a symbol of righteousness. Only those who have the key to the gate will be able to approach the light and understand its glory. What makes it so special? Only Thomas knows because he's been there before. Winslow is left to envision a variety of ideas that include nautical monsters throughout oceanic folklore. Tentacles appear through the grate, though Eggers is wise never to let the audience see too much. What is shown is staggering, finding the director recreating imagery from classical paintings that include Gods confronting man and mermaids entangled in seaweed.

It's a story of faith because one has to believe that the journey will end eventually. It can't be tortuous forever. The film's first two weeks are a bit prodding, constantly wondering when Winslow will just punch Thomas down. Everyone is annoyed by how eccentric Thomas is. He is a cartoon character, believing a spirituality full of omens that he likely picked up while stranded at sea. It's when the two weeks are up that the film becomes exciting, entering the phase that will test audiences to either love or hate the film. It was bad enough to see how these two would survive that time. In fact, some could see the film reaching a conclusion and ending on a bit of a relief note. However, Eggers isn't interested in convenient pictures. Winslow has to (comically) murder a seagull and doom his life to a storm that seems to never end.

If the two weeks felt long for the audience, everything after becomes a blur. As Thomas will later ask: how long has it been? There are no clear answers. However, the restrictiveness of the first half paves way for a second that is among the great journeys into cinematic madness. As the booze flows easier, the characters find themselves falling into parties that exist more out of two desperate men than any sign of happiness. Winslow's fantasies become more abstract, leading him to have some bizarre fantasies about murder and sex, alluding to deep parts of his past that he can't escape. It's all about a man being cornered into madness, forced to use his wits to finally address everything. He believes he is righteous. He believes that he deserves to see what's in the lighthouse, but he is nothing more than a sinner, incapable of redemption without performing more sins. 

Thankfully, it's all over the top and features enough symbolism to please the biblical crowd. If  Eggers set out to make a demented homage to Ingmar Bergman's faith masterpiece Through a Glass Darkly, he succeeded with a film that feels too ramshackle to actually exist. It unravels the faith of a pagan, leaving him to grapple with the faith of Thomas that feels unnatural. Even then, Dafoe's ability to make the sailor a compelling figure full of memorable phrases like "You're fond of me lobster" into the unexpected quote-machine of the year. He is the sane one, holding onto reason. Does he exist? Whereas the start of the film gives one impression, the third act will only make one question if anything is even real.

Pattinson deserves more awards contention for this role, which finally forces him to strip away his Twilight-era softness in favor of his most insane character yet. While Good Time and High Life were great starts, the actor dives into something incredibly audacious here. The more that he drinks, the more depraved imagery audiences witness, including masturbation, mermaid sex, and several incredible, dexterous monologues that show a man holding onto his sanity but clearly revealing just what side is about to win. He's about to fall victim to his fate, unable to ever see the lighthouse because of his own demons. He's fighting his own sanity, though what exactly does it all mean? It's a battle of faith that ends poorly, proving that not just anyone can be righteous. It requires patience and to overcome the crashing waves outside, the constant obstacles that etch at anxiety until it's a raw, bleeding nerve. It's all perfectly captures, as Eggers doesn't want audiences to feel comfortable. They need to be just as insane as his characters.

By the end, it's a journey that is unlike any other film this year. Eggers has officially become a filmmaker who is capable of recreating period pieces into something more horrifying and ambitious. While this is not a direct horror film like The Witch, the idea of being stranded is likely to scare anyone, forcing them to wonder how they could stay sane when left with nothing but an old man whose very speech pattern drives you crazy. As much as this film has a plot, it's more about the journey into madness that he captures. Because of how some scenes feel unnecessary, that they drag on without purpose, it only helps to make audiences feel the monotony of being stuck in a terrible situation. As much as it's depressing, it's an appalling comedy that finds humor by how desperate these men get. It's pent-up aggression at its finest, and anyone sitting in the theater will likely want to tear the chair out from under them and throw it at the screen, wanting the madness to end. It's a cinematic achievement that not just anyone can pull off, and it makes Eggers film a masterpiece... if you can endure.

The Lighthouse is by no means an easy sit. Those who wander into the theater are likely to find every prediction they have in the first 10 minutes being proven wrong. They're also likely to see the potential of cinema being exploited for all of its depravity in a quest to better understand faith in mankind. It's a film that asks audiences to endure, looking beyond the moments of monotony to find any empathy for men who probably don't deserve it. It may not be a horror film, but it's one that can scare the senses with its vivid imagery that pops up like a Bunuel film, leaving more confusion than answers. Everyone by the end is kind of lost at sea, and it's not entirely clear that they'll ever be suitable for the mainland again.