Lanthimos, who made a splash with the 2011 Oscar nominee for best foreign film, Dogtooth (about a couple who kept their children at home and ignorant of the world), has taken the dating game to absurdist levels in The Lobster, which won him the Cannes Jury prize this year.
The film is set in a prison-like hotel run by the no-nonsense manager, a scene-stealing Olivia Colman (Broadchurch). It's a dating last-resort where if guests don't successfully find a partner in 45 days they are turned into an animal of their choice.
It was an idea that simply sprang into the head of the director and his regular writing partner, Efthymis Filippou.
"Our way of doing things is pushing things into the extremes and trying to uncover the absurdity of all the things we consider normal in everyday life," Lanthimos explains. "It requires a certain tone and then we try to construct a complete world around what we're saying. It's like an alternative reality or a parallel world with different rules. We didn't set out to find an answer - just to ask many questions about what is love and is love real? We're exploring the need for people to be in couples and the pressures associated with conforming to that standard."
Lanthimos shot his US$4 million ($5.9 million) production ("10 times what I'm used to") entirely in Ireland with an international cast, with homeboy Colin Farrell as the film's star.
Farrell's David, the only character with a name, comes to the hotel (actually a luxury resort in County Kerry) having been dumped by his wife. He bonds with other residents who are known by their defining characteristics - Lisping Man, a buttoned-up John C. Reilly, and Limping Man Ben Whishaw. Rachel Weisz - Short Sighted Woman - provides the voiceover and makes an appearance.
Farrell liked that he didn't quite know what he was getting into.
"There were no lengthy conversations about character with Yorgos. You don't really know what you're getting into and there's something very liberating about that.
"The rules of this film are so different yet you can draw comparisons with those brought down through churches or religions, by political parties and governments."
The actor piled on 20kg to play the paunchy David.
"I'd wake up at three in the morning and feed myself chocolates, Pringles and cheeseburgers. Icecream! I would put it in the microwave just to melt it and drink it. There was a sort of sadness to it."
The film is named after David's nominated animal. But what would Farrell prefer?
"A seagull, just because I've watched them through the years and they do fly in flocks. But they also seem like they have a bit of a solitary thing going on and they vacillate between land and sea. When I was a kid I had dreams of flying, as many of us do."
What: The Lobster
Screening: Tonight and Thursday July 23
- TimeOut
