The Shape of Water (2017)

An isolated cleaner recognises a captive amphibious being as somebody worth communicating with, while the laboratory sees a specimen. Their growing intimacy makes the Cold War setting's hierarchy of useful and disposable lives feel personal. Guillermo del Toro lets romance, music and creature performance share the argument. Choose it for an openly adult fairy tale about connection across difference, with sexual material and cruel violence that prevent the gentleness from being universal.