Member-only story
Atmosphere So Thick You’ll Choke: Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse
In 2016, production designer turned writer/director Robert Eggers awed critics with his directorial debut, The Witch, a daring horror film set in the 1630s. Now, for his ferociously anticipated follow-up, he and his brother/co-writer Max Eggers have journeyed 200-some years to a rocky and remote island off the New England coast to tell a tale of isolation, envy, intimacy, wrath, and regret with The Lighthouse.
Robert Pattinson stars as Ephraim Winslow. A new arrival to this rough terrain, he is to be the assistant to the senior lighthouse keeper — or “wickie” — the grizzled and garrulous Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe). The two are alone on the island, but share cramped living quarters where privacy and decency is a luxury long lost. By day, Tom belligerently bullies Winslow, not only demanding he take on the grossest tasks — like cleaning the cistern or emptying the chamber pots — but also berating his efforts at every turn. If the assistant bristles, he’ll be barraged by monologues abusive, bombastic, yet poetic. And so time goes. Days pass into night. The tides ebb and flow with Winslow wearing down his time on this wretched rock, during which he experiences bizarre visions or perhaps horrid discoveries. If he dare shares what he’s seen with Tom, Winslow is rebuffed as a liar, a fool, or a madman.
