IN YORGOS LANTHIMOS’ absurdist black comedy The Lobster (2015), single people are forced to relocate to a hotel and find a romantic partner within forty-five days or be transformed into an animal of their choosing. Most, unsurprisingly, elect to become dogs. But David, the film’s protagonist (played by Colin Farrell), is set on a different animal: a lobster. When asked why by Olivia Colman’s hotel manager, David replies without hesitation: ‘Because lobsters live for over one hundred years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats and stay fertile all their lives.’ (He adds that it’s also because he likes the sea very much.)

‘A lobster,’ the manager says, ‘is an excellent choice.’