Movies - Code 46

	Movies - Code 46

Code 46 is a 2003 British film directed by Michael Winterbottom, screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It is a disquieting science fiction love story that echoes Gattaca
(1997) in many ways.

Main cast

Tim Robbins
— William Geld
Togo Igawa — Driver
Nabil Elouhabi — Vendor
Samantha Morton
— Maria Gonzalez
Om Puri
— Bahkland
Jeanne Balibar
— Sylvie

Plot

Tagline: How do you solve a crime when the last thing you want to know is the truth?

It is the not-too-distant future, in a world which appears to suffer from overpopulation and large scale environmental degradation. The population is divided between those who live "inside", in high density cities physically separated from "outside", where the poor and underclasses live. Access into and travel between the cities is highly restricted, and regulated through the use of "travel covers", also known as "papelles" in a global pidgin language which has developed (which appears to comprise elements of English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Mandarin). Residents of the cities may only venture outside at night and remain indoors during the day, as direct sunlight has become hazardous to their health, perhaps through ozone depletion. The form of government appears to be bioconservative and somewhat authoritarian in nature, and society is regulated by various "codes". The eponymous code of the movie title prohibits "genetically incestuous reproduction", which may often occur as a result of the various medical technologies which have become commonplace, such as cloning.

The main character is William Geld (Tim Robbins), a fraud investigator based in Seattle who is sent to Shanghai to interview employees at a company known as "The Sphinx", which manufacturers papelles. William's assignment is to identify employees who are suspected of forging and smuggling papelles.

With the aid of a genetically engineered "empathy virus", William is able to obtain unstated information from people if they voluntarily reveal something about themselves. After interviewing numerous Sphinx employees, he identifies a young worker named Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton) as the papelle forger. Maria tells William that she has the same dream each birthday: She is travelling the subway to meet someone she cannot identify. Each birthday she is one station closer to her destination, where she expects to meet the person she is looking for. William is captivated by her, and instead of turning her over to security, identifies another employee as the forger.

William then follows Maria and they secretly meet and begin an affair. They have dinner, then end up in a nightclub. She puts complete trust in the man who could have had her arrested, and reveals how she was able to smuggle papelles out of the company. A friend of Maria's, Damian (David Fahm), then appears and Maria hands him a papelle. Damien is a naturalist who longs to travel to Delhi to study bats. William is upset by the supply of the papelle to Damian and indicates that he should turn Maria over to the authorities, but Maria somehow knows that William would not do this. William explains that there are legitimate reasons why Damian is unable to obtain the proper clearances legally. However, Maria believes that it is just the corrupt government bureaucracy behind the Sphinx which prevents people from fulfilling their dreams.

William and Maria then leave for her apartment where they spend a passionate night together. While there Maria shows William her "memory scrapbook" (an electronic booklet which records and displays memories and mental pictures), which contains memories of her parents and close friends. Other movies show her passing off papelles to various people. Maria says she thinks these people are beautiful; their eyes are full of desire and dreams, and she wants to help them. As Maria sleeps, William finds a forged papelle in her room and takes it.

Wiliam's travel cover expires the next day so he returns home to his family. A few days later he learns that Damien died in Delhi after exposure to a virus to which he had no immunity, and it is known that Damien was able to travel there using a forged papelle made while William was in Shanghai. William is reprimanded by his superior for not discovering the true Sphinx forger. William explains that he had trouble with his empathy virus and requests that someone else be sent. However, he is ordered to deal with the problem and to return to Shanghai to complete his assignment.

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