The film premiered at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2019, and was theatrically released on October 18, 2019, by A24 in the United States. It was shot in black-and-white with a nearly square 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Principal photography took place in Nova Scotia beginning in April 2018 and consumed slightly over a month. The Lighthouse draws visually from photography of 1890s New England, maritime-themed French cinema from the 1930s, and symbolist art. Robert assisted the development when Max was unable to complete the adaptation of 'The Light-House', sourcing the plot from a nineteenth-century myth of a murder at a Welsh lighthouse. The Lighthouse first emerged from Max's re-envisioning of Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished short story of the same name. The film has defied categorization in media, and interpretations of The Lighthouse range from a horror film, a psychological thriller, a survival film, and a character study, among others. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as nineteenth-century wickies (lighthouse keepers) embroiled in psychological turmoil after being marooned at a remote New England outpost by a destructive storm.

When reliefs were overdue and the keeper eventually got ashore, he still had to go back when his two weeks’ liberty was up as the next keeper’s liberty was due, and the cycle would continue.The Lighthouse is a 2019 film directed and produced by Robert Eggers, with a screenplay by him and his brother Max Eggers.

When this happened for three reliefs in succession, six weeks duty quickly turned into three or four months or even longer. However, with keepers at the mercy of the weather, when the sea was rough reliefs were often postponed for days or even weeks. Each keeper in turn was relieved (replaced) by another keeper, so each individual keeper was on duty for six weeks, followed by two weeks off. Keepers would even get calls from fishermen’s wives asking for updates on their husbands’ whereabouts at sea.Īt most offshore lighthouses reliefs were carried out every two weeks, weather permitting. While the keepers’ priority was the light and other Aids to Navigation, they also kept an eye on the water and on vessels that passed their way. Keepers would even get calls from fishermen’s wives asking for updates on their husbands’ whereabouts at sea. The compressor engines were so large it took two men to start them, and when running, they had to be constantly attended to and lubricated to ensure they ran correctly. As the compressed air was continuously being used up by the diaphone, the compressor engine had to run continuously to produce more. The fog signal could be either an explosive, where the keeper on watch had to detonate an explosive charge at a set interval, or a diaphone signal – a siren activated by compressed air.Īt lighthouses with a diaphone fog signal, the keeper had to attend to a large diesel engine which made the compressed air that was then stored in a tank. Each keeper in turn spent the first four hours operating the fog signal and the next four hours tending the light.ĭuring periods of prolonged fog each keeper worked a 16-hour day – and night! However, the watches were changed every Sunday to make sure one keeper wasn’t on the same watch indefinitely.ĭuring daylight watch the keeper on duty looked out for fog, this was because during fog patches the watches were doubled, with one keeper operating the fog signal while the other tended the light. This meant the same keeper kept the 2am to 6am watch and the 2pm to 6pm watch. At offshore lighthouses and headland lighthouses, the three keepers on duty kept four-hour watches in turn.

Lighthouse keeper trailer