in water (2023) Plot Summary & Ending Explained

At the end of The Shape of Water, the boundaries between human and creature, love and otherness, are blurred in a profound way. After the creature is wounded by Colonel Strickland and then heals himself, the creature effectively kills Strickland and saves Elisa. He then takes her into the water, where we see a transformation: the scars on her neck, once thought to be a result of trauma, are turned into gills, allowing her to breathe underwater and live with the creature in his aquatic world. This act symbolizes their mutual acceptance and the breaking down of barriers that separated them.

Elisa’s past is woven into the story; she was found in a river as a child, which hints that she may have had a connection to water and perhaps the creature’s world from the start. Her muteness and scars tie her to the creature, emphasizing their shared sense of being outsiders. The film suggests that their love transcends conventional limitations—Elisa chooses to leave her human life behind and join the creature in his watery home, embracing her true self and new identity. This ending signifies a rejection of societal norms and celebrates love's power to unify beings across differences, with the creature’s abilities symbolizing a form of divine magic, connecting her to her mysterious past and her future in the water. Guillermo del Toro’s story challenges traditional notions of heroism and romance, ultimately portraying a relationship that defies norms, emphasizing acceptance, and suggesting that love can exist beyond the constraints of ordinary reality.