Guillermo del Toro, director of movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Pacific Rim, has released yet another captivating and creatively bold blockbuster — The Shape of Water.

Based in a 1960s seaside town, The Shape of Water tells the story of Elisa (Sally Hawkins) a lonely mute woman who nurses a strange obsession with water. By daylight Elisa watches old films with her best friend Giles (Richard Jenkins) an artist and closeted gay man, but by night she serves as a custodian for a secret government lab, which, rather immorally, seeks to gain an edge against the Russians in the Space Race. Elisa’s eccentric but routinized life is shattered when one day she, accompanied by coworker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discovers the lab’s newest asset (Doug Jones).

The Shape of Water has generated 24.5 million since its December 1st debut, won a Golden Globe, and been selected Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards — all for good reason. With stunning compositions, beautiful steampunk-esque blue-and-green-hued sets, and an imaginative, compelling narrative of love and sacrifice, The Shape of Water is quite easily one of del Toro’s finest films.

However, while a heart-wrenching story, The Shape of Water is rightfully rated R. It contains sexual content, graphic nudity, violence, language, as well as incorporates near sexual assault and fetishes. Part of the film’s fame, in fact, stems from the shocking and bold nature of its sexual content, so do prepare to see something different.

But do not fear: in the case of The Shape of Water, different is delightful.