As the wavering cry of the foghorn fills the air, the taciturn former lumberjack, Ephraim Winslow, and the grizzled lighthouse keeper, Thomas Wake, set foot in a secluded and perpetually grey islet off the coast of late-19th-century New England. For the following four weeks of back-breaking work and unfavourable conditions, the tight-lipped men will have no one else for company except for each other, forced to endure irritating idiosyncrasies, bottled-up resentment, and burge... (Full plot summary below)
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As the wavering cry of the foghorn fills the air, the taciturn former lumberjack, Ephraim Winslow, and the grizzled lighthouse keeper, Thomas Wake, set foot in a secluded and perpetually grey islet off the coast of late-19th-century New England. For the following four weeks of back-breaking work and unfavourable conditions, the tight-lipped men will have no one else for company except for each other, forced to endure irritating idiosyncrasies, bottled-up resentment, and burgeoning hatred. Then, amid bad omens, a furious and unending squall maroons the pale beacon's keepers in the already inhospitable volcanic rock, paving the way for a prolonged period of feral hunger; excruciating agony; manic isolation, and horrible booze-addled visions. Now, the eerie stranglehold of insanity tightens. Is there an escape from the wall-less prison of the mind?
Leave your thoughts about The Lighthouse.
| The Irish TimesTara BradyThe Lighthouse stands as a monument to two titanic performances. Pattinson’s easy naturalism curdles into something unnerving and evil here, while Dafoe goes full German Expressionist villain with the biggest screen performance since Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. |
| CineVueJohn BleasdaleEggers has created a film of disturbing horror, absurdist comedy and probing psychodrama which defies the generic boundaries as it breaks through them. The Lighthouse is a saltwater gothic masterpiece. |
| The TelegraphRobbie CollinEverything about The Lighthouse lands with a crash. It’s cinema to make your head and soul ring. |
| Time OutJoseph WalshThe Lighthouse leaves you dazed, terrified and elated, and it signals Eggers as one of the most exciting directors working today. |
| The PlaylistJessica KiangIf the immediate, textural pleasures of the film are such that you can almost miss the deftness of its construction, the skill with which Eggers balances out his ambivalent storytelling, while still ramping through ever-escalating climaxes, can’t be overstated. |
| Little White LiesElena LazicEggers understands that fairy tales and superstitions don’t persist because they are true or because they are absolute fantasies, but because they are both at the same time. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawVery few films can make you scared and excited at the same time. Just like the lighthouse beam, this is dazzling and dangerous. |
| TheWrapBen CrollThe craft is meticulous and the level of detail elaborate, but the story itself is simple as can be. |
| EmpireJohn NugentConjuring menace and mystery from solitude and seagulls, The Lighthouse is a folk tale, a black comedy, a horror, a mystery, a (platonic?) romance — and something more still, something unspeakable. Something like a masterpiece, perhaps. |
| Total FilmJordan FarleyProves The Witch was no fluke. Dafoe and Pattinson dazzle in a luminous exercise in maritime madness. |
