The Shape of Water (2017)

Elisa's (Sally Hawkin's) life is rather mundane, not unlike my own. She lives in a routine, same thing day in and day out. She is a cleaning lady at this government facility. She's also a mute, apparently silenced for some unknown reason, though we can guess. She was an orphan and maybe cried too much so they took her voice away. She has few friends, though the ones she has are super loyal. There's Giles (Richard Jenkins) her older, gay neighbor who harbors a crush on the local pie salesman who is homophobic and racist and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) who is her talkative co-worker.
And then, something changes. Her job obtains a mysterious creature, who can breath both underwater and on land, though not for as long. He's an experiment, at best or cold war weapon, at worst. But he does have magical powers. He (Doug Jones) and Elisa form a deep bond and she understands him like no else can.
Naturally, things don't work out. The government handler in charge of the creature, Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) is nasty who likes his women silent when he has sex with them, foreshadowing his scene to seduce or rape Elisa depending on how you interpret it. And there is also the secret Russian spy, Dmitri (Michael Stuhlbarg), who is fascinated by the creature. Though he wants the creature to hurt the Americans, he is ultimately on Elisa's side.
Miraculously, Elisa and Giles, with some help, escape with the creature and he and Elisa fall in love though there are some problems, as he eats Giles's one cat, though Giles isn't mad, in the end. But of course, nothing comes easy and there are some tense situations but at least this film was fairly unpredictable.
It ends bizarrely. Elisa is transformed into a fish so she and the creature can be together.
In some days, it is dated film, though it is also a recent one. Some characters are unabashedly racist and sexist, typical of the times, but they are also real, at least Elisa, Giles and Zelda are. I'm not sure about Richard; he's mostly a nasty caricature. And the scene where Elisa floods her bathroom is a little ridiculous but it is nevertheless a touching story with a hopeful ending, if not a completely happy ending. I hope that Zelda dumps her lumpy husband, for the record.
It is a masterful film, with breathtaking score and gritty scenic design. Sure, it is not as good as everyone says it is, but it's close. Grade: A-