Mad but terrific: The Lighthouse reviewed

The Lighthouse stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson (and a very nasty seagull) in a gothic thriller set off the coast of Maine in 1890, and it’s terrific. Mad, but terrific. It is gripping, intense, extraordinarily written — someone is accused of smelling like ‘curdled foreskin’ at one point — and is about two fellas thrown together. But unlike most odd-couple scenarios there is no bonding. So get bonding right out of your mind. Instead, they drive each other full-on (and marvellously) insane. It’s a mad film about madness, in short.

It is directed by Robert Eggers (The Witch) and co-written with his brother, Max Eggers, which makes you wonder what they played growing up: let’s play being driven insane on a bleak rock? (Or: let’s play who can most smell of curdled foreskin today?) And it’s startling right from the off.