Fave Quote of the Movie: The Shape of Water directed by Guillermo del Toro

Now, I acknowledge that I am deviating from the original plan, which was to highlight my favorite quote of the book. But because I'm the boss of this blog, and because I just watched this awesome movie again recently, I decided I'm going to modify the plan. Instead of fave quote of the book, it will be fave quote of the whatever I just consumed: book, movie, poem, etc.

Without further ado, let's talk about The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro.

IMDB link:

At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.

First, a warning: This movie is rated R; it contains both graphic sexuality and violence. If you choose to watch with your children (or parents, or any other family members) the sex scenes might make you feel extremely awkward. It also contains exactly the amount of racism, misogyny, and homophobia which you might expect from a movie taking place in the 1960s.

Even with all of that being said, this movie is visually stunning. There is so much to unpack about this story, but before I get into all of that, I want to tell you my favorite quote from this movie:

"Unable to perceive the shape of you,

I find you all around me.

Your presence fills my eyes with your love.

It humbles my heart,

for you are everywhere."

I had to look up this poem; I needed to know more about it. At first, it was possibly attributed to 13th century Sufi poet Rumi, but additional research found that "a translation by Priya Hemenway on page 41 of The Book of Everything (first line: “Unable to discern the form of You, / I see your Your presence all around.”) is actually much closer in wording to the text of the poem at the end of the movie" (Armenti).

This sourcing seems to take this poem not necessarily as a poem of romantic love and loss, but one of faith. It is talking about God, about Allah. I acknowledge that even taking this direction may be off-putting for some, but I hope that we can all agree, regardless of whom or what we believe in, there is a nearly universal understanding that we should be kind, we should be loving, we should, as much as we can, avoid being jerks.

So, then, what is the shape of water? It is life-giving, ever-changing, so powerful. It is everywhere. It can flow and it can crash.  The shape of water is a paradox. Quenching our thirst, filling our eyes and our lungs.  How can we rightfully describe something whose form cannot be discerned? Is that faith? Is it love? Does it truly surround us? Are there answers to these questions?

This sci-fi/fantasy movie is lovely. It washes over me like ocean waves. I feel compassion and disgust, I feel comfort and imbalance. I feel water all around me.


Remember Bruce Lee: Be water, my friends.