Film Review: "The Lighthouse" (2019).

"There is enchantment in the light." This is The Lighthouse. This psychological horror film directed by Robert Eggers, and co-written by Eggers and his brother Max. The film is a hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

The film began as Eggers' attempt to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished short story The Light-House. Eggers became aware of his brother's idea while trying to pitch his debut feature, The Witch (2015), to studios. Max's project stalled, after which Robert offered to work on it based on his own vision. Max's idea was a contemporary ghost story set in a lighthouse. Eggers decided it had to be a period piece after he discovered The Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy, a 19th-century incident at Smalls Lighthouse in Wales involving two lighthouse keepers. But this film was put on the back-burner once The Witch finally got financing. Ultimately, the final story would bear no resemblance to Poe's story apart from the title. Maine-based writer Sarah Orne Jewett served as a significant point of reference for the dialects. The works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson influenced the maritime and surrealistic elements. By February 2018, Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattison were cast. By early April, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in mid May. Filming took place in Nova Scotia, Canada, and was shot on black-and-white 35mm film, with an orthochromatic aesthetic, in the 1.19:1 aspect ratio. From the beginning, Eggers wanted to shoot the film in black and white and a "narrow, vintage" aspect ratio that evokes 19th-century photography. The entire film was shot with Panavision Millennium XL2 cameras that were equipped with a vintage 1930s Baltar lens, and black-and-white Eastman Double-X 5222 film was used with a custom short pass filter. Blaschke almost exclusively set his aperture to T2.8, setting only the characters as the focus of shots. Due to the low sensitivity of the film used on set, 8k and 9k HMI lights were used through the entirety of filming, as natural light could not suffice. HMI light was bounced off muslin cloths for daytime scenes. Low voltage bulbs and china lights were used to light nighttime and closeup scenes.

The film stars Dafoe and Pattinson. Dafoe delivered another unsettling performance as the elderly Wickie, particularly with his usual intense eyes. Pattison delivered his most emotionally intense performance of his career that is sure to shatter his Twilight image.

The Lighthouse delivers a deeply unsettling exercise in slow-building horror that suggests great things for writer-director Robert Eggers. Its acting, lighting, music, writing, production design, cinematography, editing, and direction all immediately impress. While, at the same time, they combine to create an innately terrifying tale that keeps you on tenterhooks all the way up until its grandiose but enthralling finale. It is a stunningly crafted experience that'll have you seeking out a psychiatrist as soon as you leave the theater. It is a triumph of tone, mood and atmosphere.

Simon says The Lighthouse receives:

Also, see my review for The Witch.