Black-and-White Madness
#TheLighthouse became 2019’s most polarizing art film when it premiered at Cannes in May. Robert Eggers’ follow-up to The Witch starred Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as 1890s lighthouse keepers descending into madness, shot in claustrophobic 1.19:1 aspect ratio black-and-white.
”Yer Fond of Me Lobster!”
Dafoe’s Lovecraftian sea shanty curses—“Hark! Triton, hark!”—and his drunken “Why’d ye spill yer beans?” rant became internet copypasta. The archaic maritime dialect made the dialogue feel simultaneously authentic and alien.
Robert Pattinson’s Post-Twilight Validation
Pattinson’s committed performance—masturbating to a mermaid figurine, eating mud, battling seagulls—proved his artistic credibility post-Twilight. His transformation into A24 darling culminated in 2022’s The Batman.
The Forbidden Light
The film’s central mystery—what’s in the lighthouse light that Dafoe’s character won’t let Pattinson see—drove the narrative. The climactic revelation (or hallucination?) of Pattinson reaching the light and screaming became the film’s most memed frame.
Mermaid Mythology
The rotting mermaid corpse hallucination/reality blurred the line between supernatural horror and psychological breakdown. The film’s ambiguity about whether anything paranormal occurred or it’s all isolation-induced psychosis frustrated and fascinated audiences equally.
The Seagull Murder
“Bad luck to kill a seabird,” Dafoe warns. Pattinson beats one to death anyway. Whether the subsequent horrors are supernatural punishment or guilt-driven madness remains deliberately unclear—quintessential Eggers.
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