The Shape of Water

Movie • 2017 • Fantasy  

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Synopsis

An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.

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Both
Yes
No
Your Triggers
Does the dog die?
1 supporters
Yes
52
No
139
32
There are no dogs in The Shape Of Water.
Anonymous
6 comments | Add comment
Needs More Answers
Are there tsunamis?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Is there smoke or haze?
2 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Is there live gunfire?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Are there entrances from audience?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Is there flying onstage?
0 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Abandonment
Yes
3
No
10
5
The female lead’s backstory involves being found abandoned near the river as an infant. Although this is only described and not shown on screen
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
1
No
6
Is an animal abandoned?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Abuse
Is a child abused?
150 supporters
Yes
1
No
39
4
The main antagonist’s children are dismissed out of hand, but he never directs his anger toward them. Still, the coldness might be uncomfortable for some viewers
VinnythePoet
2 comments | Add comment
Is a woman brutalized for spectacle?
140 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Yes
31
No
15
15
The main antagonist continues to have sex with his wife even when she starts objecting
idk_if_helpful
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Is someone gaslighted?
46 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
24
Is someone abused with a belt?
38 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
0
No
9
Is someone stalked?
28 supporters
Yes
30
No
7
5
The antagonist of the film hunts down the antagonist once he learns her identity. He enters her home and breaks things - could be triggering.
CharlieCharlie
1 comment | Add comment
Are there abusive parents?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Addiction
Is there addiction?
32 supporters
Yes
37
No
10
10
The main antagonist is constantly consuming painkillers after an accident with the fish man
Berry
2 comments | Add comment
Does someone abuse alcohol?
26 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
28
8
The main antagonist liberally uses painkillers
idk_if_helpful
2 comments | Add comment
Animal
Does a cat die?
280 supporters
Yes
249
No
5
63
Ahhh!!! If you’re a cat person once it gets to the scene where he gets out of the tub and the older man is asleep on the toilet - cover your eyes and ears for about 3 minutes.
Todd Manning
18 comments | Add comment
Were animals harmed in the making?
222 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Are there spiders?
75 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
76
Does a dragon die?
54 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
54
Are there bugs?
53 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
44
Are there snakes?
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
44
Are there sharks?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Are there alligators/crocodiles??
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Are rabbits harmed?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
10
Does a pet die?
1 supporters
Yes
22
No
0
2
A cat is eaten for food by the creature.
Jwolf
1 comment | Add comment
Does a horse die?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
89
Does an animal die?
(besides a dog, cat or horse)
1 supporters
Yes
68
No
30
-1
No, no animal BESIDES A DOG, CAT OR HORSE dies.
malovela
1 comment | Add comment
Are animals abused?
1 supporters
Yes
34
No
14
8
Without classifying the asset as human or not, a cat is consumed and beheaded.
vermin
5 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
42
Yes
63
No
0
8
The fish creature eats a cat's head on-screen, then tosses the rest away
idk_if_helpful
2 comments | Add comment
Is an animal sad?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Assault
Yes
52
No
3
23
The villain has sex with his wife that is initially very consensual, but when she starts to express discomfort, he covers her mouth with a grotesquely wounded and bloody hand and keeps going.
Corellon
4 comments | Add comment
Is there pedophilia?
166 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
12
Is rape mentioned?
120 supporters
Yes
2
No
9
3
No, but it does depict the main antagonist of the film continuing sex with his wife after she starts objecting
rozandro
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Is someone drugged?
42 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
7
Yes
20
No
0
4
A very humanoid being is kept in chains, which includes him wearing a large metal ring around his neck.
malovela
2 comments | Add comment
Is someone held under water?
36 supporters
Add comment
Yes
8
No
2
Does a woman get slapped?
33 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Is someone beaten up by a bully?
24 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
6
Is someone's mouth covered?
19 supporters
Add comment
Yes
11
No
0
2
I mean arguably we do witness a marital rape in the sense that the wife tried to retract consent but the husband isn’t having any of it
SiRenfield
2 comments | Add comment
Bodily Harm
Is someone tortured?
128 supporters
Yes
84
No
0
15
The fish dude gets tortured by the security chief and Elisa has to helplessly watch him suffer.
SEAGULLaahh
3 comments | Add comment
Is there body horror?
107 supporters
Add comment
Yes
10
No
0
Is someone burned alive?
70 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
60
Yes
8
No
1
2
the cat
1 comment | Add comment
Is there cannibalism?
57 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Is someone crushed to death?
55 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
9
Yes
11
No
45
9
No cutting that I noticed, but there are some scars that look like cut marks across the main character's neck that she received as a child.

The creature does accidentally scratch one of the characters when startled, causing claw marks across their arm.
Anonymous
2 comments | Add comment
Is someone buried alive?
52 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
28
Yes
38
No
0
4
The creature is seen gasping for oxygen several times in the film because his lungs only work out of water for a limited time
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone asphyxiate?
44 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Yes
9
No
0
3
The main antagonist's hand is injured and doesn't get properly treated; it gets infected and its condition deteriorates dramatically over the course of the story. There's a more detailed description in the "finger/toe mutilation" item.
pedanther
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone choked?
31 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does someone become unconscious?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
8
No
0
Yes
9
No
1
2
The sea creature slits the villains throat
BelleFiction
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
117
No
4
21
Oh my god there is so much finger mutilation.
Anonymous
5 comments | Add comment
Does someone fall to their death?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
35
Does a head get squashed?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
32
Yes
41
No
0
8
a man loses his fingers and they are reattached
3 comments | Add comment
Is someone stabbed?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is there Achilles Tendon injury?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
10
Yes
6
No
37
4
near the end a man gets shot in the face and his eye starts to bleed and kinda go upwards, nasty.
rotbrains
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
24
No
14
7
Y’all. If someone loses a finger, they had to break a bone in the process.
vermin
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
16
No
1
6
The wounds in this movie are... disturbingly realistically portrayed. One man is repeatedly shot and then, while still alive and begging, drug around by a bullet hole in his cheek. Akin to a fish on a hook.
JadedUmbra
2 comments | Add comment
Is there genital trauma/mutilation?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
17
Are any teeth damaged?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
42
Is there a hanging?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
30
Yes
0
No
12
1
No. We do see people walking both up and down stairs.
malovela
1 comment | Add comment
Are there dislocations?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does someone have a seizure?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
40
Children
Is a minor sexualized?
138 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
12
Does a kid die?
112 supporters
Yes
0
No
61
1
No children die but there are children present briefly in the movie. the main antagonist has a son. he has literal speaking lines.
goblinlovr
2 comments | Add comment
Is an infant abducted?
39 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Creepy Crawly
Are there bedbugs?
24 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Death
Does a non-human character die?
55 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
6
Yes
4
No
3
3
There's an element of ambiguity to what happens to one of the main characters during/after the climactic confrontation, but taken at face value the character apparently survives. A fairly significant supporting character does get killed.
pedanther
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone die?
25 supporters
Add comment
Yes
10
No
0
Does someone sacrifice themselves?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
5
Disability
Is the r-slur used?
41 supporters
Yes
1
No
12
2
Not specifically the r-word, but there is a lot of ableist language towards and about the non-verbal main character
tasseomancer
1 comment | Add comment
2
In the sense that Sally Hawkins is not mute and doesn’t have those throat scars I guess. Then again…


[SPOILERS] those scars are actually gils so grey area there
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
Drugs/Alcohol
Does someone overdose?
26 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
10
Family
Does a parent die?
41 supporters
Yes
23
No
29
9
Technically yes, as one character who possibly dies off-screen is a father.
Anonymous
2 comments | Add comment
Does a family member die?
32 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does someone cheat?
30 supporters
Yes
36
No
4
9
a man makes (harassing) sexual advances to a woman, while he's already married and has kids
pocketbee
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone kidnapped?
19 supporters
Yes
42
No
0
10
The water creature was kidnapped by the military and brought to the facility.
Crow75
1 comment | Add comment
Is a child's toy destroyed?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
23
Fear
Yes
59
No
13
7
Fairly mild jump scares
Maureen Broderick Walters
1 comment | Add comment
Is trypophobic content shown?
40 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Are there razors?
S.A.F.E. ALTERNATIVES® (1-800-DONTCUT)
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is someone possessed?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
36
Are there clowns?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
70
Yes
93
No
3
11
Quite a bit of nudity (mostly from main character) in this film. She is shown naked in a tub masturbating twice. She gets naked again and gets in the shower with the creature. She's also naked again with him in the bathroom shortly after.
Mary Magpie
1 comment | Add comment
Are there ghosts?
9 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
44
Are there mannequins?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Are there natural bodies of water?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
10
No
0
Gross
Does someone vomit?
173 supporters
Yes
0
No
39
11
Couple of times you think someone might be about to vomit, but they never do. I didn't notice anyone spitting, though I could be wrong.
Anonymous
1 comment | Add comment
Is there defecation?
61 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is someone eaten?
51 supporters
Yes
5
No
4
4
No humans far as I can recall but Poor kitty :(
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone wet/soil themselves?
34 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
13
Does someone spit?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
41
Is there farting?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Yes
33
No
0
6
Yes, when the man removes his fingers.
CharlieCharlie
2 comments | Add comment
Large-scale Violence
Are there 9/11 depictions?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
14
Law Enforcement
Is there incarceration?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
5
Is there copaganda?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
12
LGBTQ+
Yes
0
No
7
Are there transphobic slurs?
74 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Is there deadnaming or birthnaming?
48 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Yes
5
No
2
2
A character is not forcibly outed, but there is an uncomfortable scene where a gay character is rejected by somebody whose good opinion he values after voluntarily revealing his orientation.
pedanther
1 comment | Add comment
Is there bisexual cheating?
33 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Live Theatre
Is there audience participation?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Loss
Is a priceless artifact destroyed?
6 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Medical
Does someone have cancer?
28 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
35
Are there heart attacks?
23 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Is there a hospital scene?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
34
Is there menstruation?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
63
No
2
10
At one point a security guard (minor character) is injected in the neck with a hypodermic needle.
Anonymous
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
15
No
24
16
A cattle prod is used as torture, but no therapy is involved.
Corellon
2 comments | Add comment
Is there a mental institution scene?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
30
Mental Health
Is autism misrepresented?
49 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Does someone suffer from PTSD?
39 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
0
Not fully, but there are two dream sequences: one at the very beginning, and another when characters sit down at the table to eat together and begin to imagine singing and dancing.
SK
1 comment | Add comment
Is there body dysmorphia?
34 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
29
Is there D.I.D. misrepresentation?
31 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Is there body dysphoria?
19 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Does someone have a meltdown?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is there autism specific abuse?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
25
Is a mentally ill person violent?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
11
Is there misophonia?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
9
No
0
Yes
0
No
49
Does someone have a mental illness?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Are there anxiety attacks?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
20
Is there ABA therapy?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Yes
0
No
29
Yes
0
No
6
2
The water being is kept in a small tank some of the time.
malovela
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
31
No
26
11
Shouldn't we consider the scene where the bad guy torns his own rotten fingers out self harm?
Lachesis
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
11
Noxious
Is there shakey cam?
68 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
47
Are there flashing lights or images?
63 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
56
Are there sudden loud noises?
54 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does a baby cry?
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
13
Is there screaming?
20 supporters
Add comment
Yes
6
No
0
Are there underwater scenes?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
8
No
0
Is there obscene language/gestures?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
8
No
0
Paranoia
Is someone watched without knowing?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
5
No
0
Is the fourth wall broken?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Pregnancy
Is a baby stillborn?
53 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Does someone miscarry?
43 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
31
Does a pregnant person die?
37 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
25
Is there childbirth?
37 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Are there abortions?
24 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
23
Are there babies or unborn children?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Prejudice
Are there fat jokes?
65 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
28
Yes
4
No
18
12
No slurs, but a character is homophobic to a gay man.
CharlieCharlie
1 comment | Add comment
23
ableist remarks against the main mute character, ableist fetishization from her boss. she is also shown singing (stereotype of disabled people becoming abled in their dreams/fantasies)
pocketbee
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
49
7
No, but this movie does show a homophobic scene. A gay man is told to leave a restaurant (this movie does take place in 1950's America).
CharlieCharlie
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
5
No
13
7
There is one scene where they say the word "n*gro" in television on what seems to be a news report. There are also several uncomfortable period-accurate racist scenes against black americans.
fluffy8uns
1 comment | Add comment
Is a minority is misrepresented?
41 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
4
Is there hate speech?
40 supporters
Yes
59
No
0
13
black people thrown out of white spaces & belittled, anti-jewish remark, ableism, homophobia. and other racist comments.
pocketbee
4 comments | Add comment
7
a white bad guy uses a bad term for jewish people, and refers to anti-semitism in a pretty dismissive way
pocketbee
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
29
6
No black people die in this movie.
CharlieCharlie
1 comment | Add comment
Is there aphobia?
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Are there "Man in a dress" jokes?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
15
Race
Is there blackface?
45 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Relationships
Is there a large age gap?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Religious
Are there demons or Hell?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
3
No
3
2
The Amphibian was worshipped by the local indigenous population before he was discovered by the scientists. [MAJOR SPOILERS] and in fact the bad guy’s last words are “you are a god”
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
Sex
Are there incestuous relationships?
National Sexual Assault Hotline 800.656.4673
99 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Yes
73
No
0
24
There is nudity. There are two female masturbation scenes. There is a heterosexual s*x scene. Anda major plot is the consensual sexual/romantic relationship between the fish man and the female main character.
Anonymous
3 comments | Add comment
Are there nude scenes?
69 supporters
Add comment
Yes
12
No
0
Yes
11
No
0
6
The villain makes nasty and uncomfortable sexual advances towards our hero in a scary scene.
Triggeredsushi
1 comment | Add comment
Is there BDSM?
38 supporters
Yes
0
No
5
2
No but the bad guy is a strong advocate of traditional gender roles with women submissive to men and often engages in rather violent sex with his wife. No sane BDSMer would condone this guy obviously (especially as he completely disregards consent) but it could still make sone with this trigger uncomfortable
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
3
Virginity isn’t established with Eliza, all we really know about her sexual life at the start of the movie is that she makes self-pleasure part of her daily routine
SiRenfield
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
5
No
7
6
I mean mostly yes but also no. This movie is kind of infamous for being a weird grey area on the Jack Harkness test since both characters are non-verbal but can still communicate via sign language (friendly reminder that the rules stipulate that communication doesn’t have to be exclusively verbal just so long as the non-human entity is sapient and capable of communication). Basically the entire movie being okay with you kind of depends on your tolerance towards Beauty and the Beast-type stories [MAJOR SPOILERS] also the ending opens up the possibility that Elisa may not even be human in the first place
SiRenfield
2 comments | Add comment
Sexism
Yes
0
No
5
Sickness
Is there dementia/Alzheimer's?
42 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Is someone terminally ill?
30 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does someone have a stroke?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Does someone have a chronic illness?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Social
Are there anti-abortion themes?
46 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Are there fat suits?
37 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is existentialism debated?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Is someone homeless?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Spoiler
Yes
0
No
37
7
They end up together in the end
Anonymous
2 comments | Add comment
Are there end credit scenes?
73 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Is Santa (et al) spoiled?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
31
Vehicular
Does a plane crash?
23 supporters
Yes
0
No
35
3
No flying scenes.
malovela
1 comment | Add comment
Does a car honk or tires screech?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
6
No
0
Does a car crash?
1 supporters
Yes
63
No
1
10
A sideswipe to a parked car for humor
Maureen Broderick Walters
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone hit by a car?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
29
Violence
Is there blood/gore?
80 supporters
Yes
69
No
0
6
A primary source of gore is one of the characters having his fingers bitten off, reattached, and them subsequently rotting off throughout the film (in one scene, he rips them off and throws them at another character). In another scene, a character shoots another through the cheek and sticks his finger through it, pulling him up by the wound. Very squicky, not for the squeamish.
azira
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone drown?
45 supporters
Yes
3
No
39
16
Someone is underwater for a good amount of time, they are definitely *not* drowning though and are in fact quite clearly having a nice time
Eric2
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
36
No
0
6
Yes at least 5 people are shot by the antagonist.
CharlieCharlie
1 comment | Add comment
Is there a nuclear explosion?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
27