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Code 46

2004, Movie, R, 92 mins

Code 46: Review

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Michael Winterbottom's moody meditation on love in the future imperfect — a future that looks very like the outer edges of the present — combines a doomed, fleeting romance in the BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) mode by way of dystopian visions like BLADE RUNNER (1982) and ALPHAVILLE (1965). In a time when most children are the product of in-vitro fertilization, citizens are accounted for down to the last strand of DNA and "Code 46" regulations govern marriage and childbearing so instances of inadvertent genetic incest can be averted. The ozone layer is so depleted that the standard cycle of sleeping and waking has been reversed, travel is tightly regulated and the world's densely populated cities are surrounded by vast wastelands inhabited by undocumented outcasts. Married, Seattle-based Pinkerton Agency detective William (Tim Robbins) is assigned to investigate the theft of blank "papelles," strictly controlled documents that serve as a combination of passport, visa and insurance coverage, from the Sphinx agency in Shanghai. Fraudulent papelles printed on the stolen blanks have been traced back to Sphinx, and William, his natural intuitive acuity temporarily elevated to full-fledged mind reading by a genetically modified virus, interviews a series of employees before focusing his suspicion on Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton). William knows she's lying when she denies any knowledge of illegal papelles, but shields her by accusing another employee. That night, he and Maria have dinner, wander the crowded streets together and wind up at her apartment; their intense liaison is inherently limited by William's own papelle, which is good for only 24 hours. He returns home to his family and a reprimand from his boss: One of Maria's forged documents led to the death of a naturalist (David Fahm) who used it to circumvent official genetic surveillance that would have barred him from Delhi, where his genetic susceptibility to certain virulent local diseases killed him. William is sent back to Shanghai to finish the job and finds that Maria has vanished, accused of a Code 46 violation. Winterbottom's future is pieced together from contemporary locations in China, India and Dubai, their slightly alien quality emphasized through careful framing and camera angles. Shooting on digital video imparts a slightly smeared look to the contrasting natural and manmade landscapes; soaring, blue-glass-skinned skyscrapers reflect the vast, baked desert of orange sand. But ultimately the sci-fi fillips — human cloning, memory wipes, empathy viruses — are subordinate to screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce's doomed romance, whose mythic fatalism about human powerlessness in the face of fate suggests that the future can never escape the past. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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