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

At the hotel grounds, David asks to take the pier assignment and the Loner Leader sends the teams off.

Scene 87 of 123 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Loner Leader
David

Act oneAct two

Begins 1:02 into a 1:28 film

The story so farBefore scene 87

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.
Scenes 16–24
He must find a partner before the 45-day limit turns him into an animal.
Scenes 25–62
He participates in the hunt, attempts a false match, then escapes into the woods.
Scenes 63–84
He adapts to loner customs and cautiously begins a connection with Shortsighted Woman.
Just before
Scene 84
David and Shortsighted Woman nervously talk alone; she rubs tiger balm into the part of his back he cannot reach.
Scene 85
The Loner Leader distributes disguises and pistols and assigns targets based on hotel couples’ matching traits.
Scene 86
The loners move silently toward the hotel, with David last in line and worried.
Scene 87
This scene

87EXT. HOTEL - EVENING

The loners open a small gate using the key the maid gave them and enter the hotel gardens. They check to see if there are any waiter guards around and hide behind some bushes. David goes up to Loner Leader.

LONER LEADER

You and you take 206, you and you

take 240, you, you and you take

282, you take the pier.

David jumps in.

DAVID

Can I go to the pier?

LONER LEADER

Okay then, you go to the pier and

you go to 282. We have half an

hour.

The loners split up and head off in different directions.