The Guardian

An octopus 'love story' on Netflix has caused thoughts to run wild. Why? | Elle Hunt

My Octopus Teacher tells the moving story of how Craig Foster came to know an octopus – and the emotional bond that formed when he did
‘If My Octopus Teacher is a love story, as described, it is less Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and more Garden State.’ Photograph: Nikos Stavrinidis/Getty Images/500px

A new Netflix documentary about a film-maker and his “octopus teacher” has become the subject of impish suggestion and scurrilous rumour on social media, speculating about whether their intimate relationship ever, ah … turned physical.

Let me be clear, as both a fully paid-up member of the cephalopod-squad and one of reviewers of the film: the man does not have sex with the octopus. (And, if Google search brought you here, a time-saving tip for the future: that won’t ever be published by the Guardian. It remains to be seen with Netflix.)

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