Code 46
Y
SepT 5, 2003
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Code 46."
Like "28 Days Later," a film by his compatriot Danny Boyle, English director Michael Winterbottom's new film "Code 46" offers a dystopian vision of the not-too-distant future. While the viruses that threaten society are not of the flesh-eating variety -- and on the surface, at least, appear more benign -- they are equally insidious.
"Code 46" lacks the visceral power of the earlier picture as well as what might be termed its "gross-out" appeal. That, coupled with the film's more subdued pacing, portends a less active boxoffice. Fans of the prolific Winterbottom as well as of the film's two stars are the obvious audience here, but a breakout hit on the specialty market doesn't seem likely.
An opening aerial of a vast, sterile desert dotted with high-security checkpoints, followed by a shot of distant skyscrapers obscured by a thick layer of smog, immediately places the viewer in an inhospitable environment. This is Shanghai, China.
Seattle-based insurance investigator William (Tim Robbins) arrives to question employees at the Sphinx Insurance Co. about fake "papalles" (a kind of passport, visa and insurance policy all in one) that are being manufactured at the Shanghai office. With the powers bestowed upon him by an "empathy virus," he is able to quickly zero in on Maria (Samantha Morton) as the culprit. But the moment they meet, he falls in love with her
instead of reporting her, he fingers another employee.
Maria is aware of what he has done. They go out that night, ending up in her bed. Maria is impregnated. William returns home to his wife and son the next day but can't get Maria out of his mind. He feels he has met his soul mate. When a death is traced to the fraudulent papalles, William is sent back to Shanghai by his displeased boss, but Maria has disappeared. He tracks her down to a hospital to find that she has been given an abortion and had her memory erased after it is discovered that she has violated Code 46. She does not even remember William.
It turns out that Maria was cloned from William's dead mother. Two such individuals are forbidden from being together for obvious reasons, a dilemma that undoubtedly faces many people in an age when human cloning and genetic engineering are commonplace. Unable to fly home because his 24-hour papalle has expired, William decides to run away with Maria, an endeavor fated to fail in this mind-controlled society.
Winterbottom has always been adept at establishing the physical and emotional atmosphere that surrounds his characters (he almost always shoots on location but also relies on talented production designers and cinematographers). His ability to place his audience right in the middle of, in this case, a particularly cold, sterile, claustrophobic environment is a big part of the film's effectiveness. The fact that such a forbidding, impersonal landscape is the last place most people will want to be, of course, makes the film difficult to embrace. Appreciation, on the other hand, is easy.
Partially because Winterbottom is a colder director than, say, Steven Spielberg, the viewer does not get emotionally involved in the relationship between Maria and William the way one did in "Minority Report," which, coincidentally, also starred Morton. With her close-cropped hair, lack of makeup and wide-eyed look of wonderment, she suggests a child who has wandered off and is mesmerized by everything she sees. The British actress has an uncanny ability to appear totally blank at the same time that emotions seem to be churning deep inside her.
As in all Winterbottom films, music plays a key role. The score, composed by David Holmes and Steve Hilton, adds to the sense of austerity and alienation. Certainly the film could be read as a warning against so-called progress, not only in the field of genetic engineering but also in the realm of government control over citizens' daily lives as well as what seems to be our rapidly vanishing civil liberties. Such an interpretation makes the film just that much more chilling.
CODE 46
United Artists
Revolution Films
Credits:
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Screenwriter: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Producer: Andrew Eaton
Executive producers: David M. Thompson, Robert Jones
Directors of photography: Alwin Kuchler, Marcel Zyskind
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: The Free Association
Editor: Peter Christelis
Cast:
William: Tim Robbins
Maria: Samantah Morton
Backland: Om Puri
Sylvie: Jeanne Balibar
Damian Alekan: David Fahm
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Like "28 Days Later," a film by his compatriot Danny Boyle, English director Michael Winterbottom's new film "Code 46" offers a dystopian vision of the not-too-distant future. While the viruses that threaten society are not of the flesh-eating variety -- and on the surface, at least, appear more benign -- they are equally insidious.
"Code 46" lacks the visceral power of the earlier picture as well as what might be termed its "gross-out" appeal. That, coupled with the film's more subdued pacing, portends a less active boxoffice. Fans of the prolific Winterbottom as well as of the film's two stars are the obvious audience here, but a breakout hit on the specialty market doesn't seem likely.
An opening aerial of a vast, sterile desert dotted with high-security checkpoints, followed by a shot of distant skyscrapers obscured by a thick layer of smog, immediately places the viewer in an inhospitable environment. This is Shanghai, China.
Seattle-based insurance investigator William (Tim Robbins) arrives to question employees at the Sphinx Insurance Co. about fake "papalles" (a kind of passport, visa and insurance policy all in one) that are being manufactured at the Shanghai office. With the powers bestowed upon him by an "empathy virus," he is able to quickly zero in on Maria (Samantha Morton) as the culprit. But the moment they meet, he falls in love with her
instead of reporting her, he fingers another employee.
Maria is aware of what he has done. They go out that night, ending up in her bed. Maria is impregnated. William returns home to his wife and son the next day but can't get Maria out of his mind. He feels he has met his soul mate. When a death is traced to the fraudulent papalles, William is sent back to Shanghai by his displeased boss, but Maria has disappeared. He tracks her down to a hospital to find that she has been given an abortion and had her memory erased after it is discovered that she has violated Code 46. She does not even remember William.
It turns out that Maria was cloned from William's dead mother. Two such individuals are forbidden from being together for obvious reasons, a dilemma that undoubtedly faces many people in an age when human cloning and genetic engineering are commonplace. Unable to fly home because his 24-hour papalle has expired, William decides to run away with Maria, an endeavor fated to fail in this mind-controlled society.
Winterbottom has always been adept at establishing the physical and emotional atmosphere that surrounds his characters (he almost always shoots on location but also relies on talented production designers and cinematographers). His ability to place his audience right in the middle of, in this case, a particularly cold, sterile, claustrophobic environment is a big part of the film's effectiveness. The fact that such a forbidding, impersonal landscape is the last place most people will want to be, of course, makes the film difficult to embrace. Appreciation, on the other hand, is easy.
Partially because Winterbottom is a colder director than, say, Steven Spielberg, the viewer does not get emotionally involved in the relationship between Maria and William the way one did in "Minority Report," which, coincidentally, also starred Morton. With her close-cropped hair, lack of makeup and wide-eyed look of wonderment, she suggests a child who has wandered off and is mesmerized by everything she sees. The British actress has an uncanny ability to appear totally blank at the same time that emotions seem to be churning deep inside her.
As in all Winterbottom films, music plays a key role. The score, composed by David Holmes and Steve Hilton, adds to the sense of austerity and alienation. Certainly the film could be read as a warning against so-called progress, not only in the field of genetic engineering but also in the realm of government control over citizens' daily lives as well as what seems to be our rapidly vanishing civil liberties. Such an interpretation makes the film just that much more chilling.
CODE 46
United Artists
Revolution Films
Credits:
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Screenwriter: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Producer: Andrew Eaton
Executive producers: David M. Thompson, Robert Jones
Directors of photography: Alwin Kuchler, Marcel Zyskind
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: The Free Association
Editor: Peter Christelis
Cast:
William: Tim Robbins
Maria: Samantah Morton
Backland: Om Puri
Sylvie: Jeanne Balibar
Damian Alekan: David Fahm
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating
Share on LinkedIn
