The Lobster · written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou · 2015

A guest boasts of his beautiful face before the Hotel Manager reads references that contradict him.

Scene 23 of 123 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Hotel Manager
Guest From Room 104

Act oneAct two

Begins 18 min into a 1:28 film

The story so farBefore scene 23

After his wife leaves him, David has 45 days to find a partner at a hotel or become an animal; he escapes, falls for a shortsighted loner, and must decide whether to surrender his sight so they can stay together.

Scenes 1–15
David moves from his broken home into the hotel, where couplehood is imposed as the norm.
Just before
Scene 20
Limping Man describes a successful couple as proof he can find a partner, while David listens on the beach.
Scene 21
At the hotel’s staged welcome, Limping Man begins his account by saying his father left his mother for a woman better at maths.
Scene 22
Limping Man feeds zoo wolves while recounting how his mother became a wolf and how he acquired his limp.
Scene 23
This scene

23INT. LECTURE HALL - MIDDAY

The audience applauds. Some stand. The waiters also clap. The Hotel Manager waits for the applause to peter out.

HOTEL MANAGER

Reference letters. 1 - “He is very

sensitive and a very good friend. I

lent him money in 1989 and he paid

me back before the repayment date.”

2 - “John is wonderful. He loves

kids and is a first-class

conversationalist.” Let’s move on

to our next guest. Room 104, Day 2.

GUEST FROM ROOM 104

Hello, everyone. This is only my

second day here but already I feel

like a member of a wonderful group.

My defining characteristic is that

I have a very beautiful face.

The guest from Room 104 does not have a very beautiful face.