Code 46
Tags: dramatic, sci-fi, boring, home movie

Plot synopsis:
In the near future the world is divided between those who live "inside", in high-density cities, and the poor underclass who live "outside." Access to the cities is highly restricted and regulated through the use of health documents, known as "papelles" in the global pidgin language of the day (composed of elements of English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Italian, Farsi and Mandarin).
Most city residents venture outside only after dark since direct sunlight is now considered hazardous to their health. However, many residents still venture outdoors during the day. The government appears to be authoritarian and dystopian. Society is regulated by various "codes". The code of the movie title prohibits "genetically incestuous reproduction", which may occur as a result of the various medical technologies which have become commonplace, such as cloning.
William Geld (Tim Robbins), an insurance fraud investigator, is sent to Shanghai to interview employees at a company known as "The Sphinx", which manufactures "covers", ostensibly "insurance cover documents" but which in fact regulate the movements of people among cities and "inside" and "outside". William's assignment is to identify employees who are suspected of forging "covers". After interviewing numerous Sphinx employees, he identifies a young worker named Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton) as the forger. He is able to do this using a genetically engineered "empathy virus," which allows him to gain information from people if they voluntarily reveal something about themselves. Maria tells William that she has the same dream each birthday: she is traveling 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. William is captivated by her, and instead of turning her over to security, he identifies another employee as the forger.
William then meets up with Maria and they begin an affair. Putting complete trust in a man who could have had her arrested, Maria reveals how she was able to smuggle papelles out of her workplace. In a nightclub they meet Damian (David Fahm), a naturalist who longs to travel to Delhi to study bats. He has applied for cover for eight consecutive years but has always been refused. Maria supplies Damian with a papelle. William is upset by this and indicates that he should turn Maria over to the authorities, but Maria knows he won't. William explains that there are legitimate reasons why Damian is unable to obtain the proper clearances legally. Maria believes that some risks are worth taking to fulfill one's dreams.
Back at her apartment, Maria shows William her "memory scrapbook" (an electronic booklet that records video from the user's mind), which contains memories of her parents and friends. Other movies show her passing papelles to various people. She thinks they are beautiful and their eyes are full of desire and dreams, and that they have a different look from "everyday" people. As Maria sleeps, William finds a forged cover in her room and takes it.
William's travel cover will expire the next day so he returns home to his family. On the way to the airport, he gives the forged cover to a street vendor at the city's perimeter checkpoint, an act of humanity which could change the vendor's life. Later, he learns that Damian died in Delhi after exposure to a virus to which he had no immunity. William is reprimanded for not discovering the true Sphinx forger. He explains that he had trouble with his empathy virus and requests that someone else be sent, as there may have been an accomplice to the innocent man he fingered as the guilty party. However, he is ordered to deal with the problem and to return to Shanghai.
Upon his return William discovers that Maria has gone. Her apartment is abandoned and the only clue is a medical clinic appointment. He visits the clinic and, using his empathic abilities, learns that Maria was pregnant, but that it was terminated due to a violation of Code 46. William knows that this means Maria is somehow genetically related to him, but he has no idea how.
William discovers that Maria has been taken to have her memory of the episode erased. He talks to Maria, but finds her memory of him is gone. He succeeds in getting the clinic to release Maria into his care by telling them she is a witness in his fraud investigation. After she is released, William proves to Maria that she knows him by his intimate knowledge of her and by showing her the memory recording of when she gave Damian the papelle, which includes a shot of William. William tells her about the memory erasure, and about how he didn't report her for fraud. Maria is disturbed by this information and becomes very distressed. William gives her a sleeping pill and, while she is sleeping, he cuts some hair from her head and takes it to a facility which provides instant DNA analysis. There he discovers that Maria is fifty percent genetically related to him, and that she is a biological clone of his mother, who was one of a set of twenty-four in-vitro fertilised clones. This knowledge does not affect William's feelings, but instead of going back to Maria he decides to go home to his family. However, when he tries to leave he is not allowed to do so as his 24-hour cover is now expired.
William then realises that his only hope of returning home is to get a papelle from Maria. He returns to her apartment and tells her about his inability to leave. She agrees to help him. She tells him she must acquire a papelle and that she will meet him at the airport later. She goes to work and obtains a papelle, but is unable to forge one herself, as she was moved to another area of work, so a co-worker makes the cover for her. While taking a train to meet William she remembers her birthday dream, and that he was the person she is looking for in the dream, and she remembers her feelings for him. She meets William, gives him the papelle, then tells him she remembers him. He decides not to leave her.
William and Maria then travel to Jebel Ali in the Middle East, which does not require special travel clearance. The two hide out in the old city where they book a room. Here William reveals to Maria that in addition to the memory wiping, she has been given a virus that induces a terrorising adrenaline rush in response to physical contact with the person who brought about the Code 46 violation. However, Maria still wants to make love with William, so he ties her down to prevent her from fleeing once the adrenaline rush kicks in.
Afterward, Maria enters a somnambulistic state, also caused by the virus, which forces her to report the further Code 46 violation to the authorities. She is unconscious of this, though William is aware of the virus's reaction. They then rent an old car and travel away to escape the authorities who are tracking them. William crashes the car while avoiding a collision with camels and pedestrians and they are both knocked unconscious.
When William awakes in the hospital he finds himself in Seattle with his wife and child. He has no memory of Maria or the Code 46 violation, as all memories of her and their time together have been completely flushed from his mind. The authorities had brought William before a tribunal, but decided the empathy virus had affected his judgment. He attempts to use the empathy virus to read his son's thoughts on the drive back from the hospital, but is unable to. Maria is more severely punished, in effect, by not having her memories of William loving her erased, essentially forced to remember him and exiled to the place she hated the most, the desert, outside of "cover". Her final words of the film (portrayed through voiceover of the end-of-film events and a montage of her poor, "beggar" life and existence) are, "I miss you."

Review: Like 'Until the End of the World,' 'Strange Days,' and 'Gattaca,' three films which 'Code 46' potently recalls, this is above all else a mood piece, wherein character and plot are secondary to the drifty, elegiac flow of the film.The action is underplayed, and the performances have an earthy tone; Tim Robbins recalls William Hurt in 'Until the End of the World' and Bill Murray in 'Lost in Translation,' in that his perpetual jet lag has cultivated an easy, weary charm.
Intimacy becomes something to escape into.Michael Winterbottom and his screen-writing partner Frank Cottrell Boyce have done great work before, and inevitably, a lot of viewers and critics are dismissing 'Code 46' as a number of things, including listless and convoluted, but I think that's symptomatic of approaching this film with the wrong expectations.
The movie has a sort of purging effect, like Wenders' 'Until the End of the World,' and as with that film, my immediate environment felt different to me, changed, upon exiting the theater..
It stars Tim Robbins and upcoming British actress Samantha Morton (Minority Report, In America, Morvern Callar).It is set in a near future where a worldwide law (Code 46) makes the marriage of two people with genetic similarities illegal.
And I really loved the fact that while the film doesn't end on a low point, it isn't the happy ending you might expect (and indeed hope) of the two characters.The obvious references are similar films like Blade Runner and Brave New World, but while it is a futuristic setting its not doused in sci-fi overtones.
I know for a certainty that a lot of people won't like it because it lacks those obvious plot points from the outset, but instead it doesn't take you by the hand to its conclusion.One of my new favourite films I'm sure..
I really love the mood and atmosphere in this film, its very soft and slow, which proves to be very effective in escalating the sexual tension to Mount Everest levels.The acting is superb throughout, with Samantha Morton being particularly outstanding, sexy and bizarre, a cocktail that woos Tim Robbins over and over again.
Code 46 does have certain parallels, forbidden love, futuristic worlds and an excellent morose tingling soundtrack, but Code 46 stands out on its own as a fantastic love story, with unique and bizarre complications and a very thought provoking look into the future.A really good film 8/10..
Code 46 is an instant Winterbottom classic with the professionally superb acting by Robbins and Morton, the cinematic eye candy of our future, as well as a tight script that allows the viewer experience it over and over with new references every time.
The mind-shattering voice overs coupled with the actors struggle only proves that Code 46's entire team was dedicated to the project, and sometimes that is a rarity in Hollywood.Overall, I thought this was a welcomed change to the recycled love story syndrome that seems to plague our screens as well as a bold step in the sci-fi direction.
William is a government investigator and the girl that he fell in love with, Maria (Samantha Morton), was the person in particular that he came out to investigate.This movie starts in a similar fashion as I, Robot, with just a definition and the law of what exactly a Code 46 is.
If the parents were ignorant of their genetic identities, then medical intervention is authorized to prevent a further occurrence of a Code 46 (this was similar to the whole plot of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind where they medically make you forget who this person is and any involvement you had with him) and last, but not least, if any two people of the same genetic identity knowingly commit a Code 46, then that is a criminal offense.That being said, you can almost guess the entire basic story but there are other little things in the movie that almost certainly have to be watched again to catch everything.
I turned on the movie before I was ready to commit my full attention to it and found myself playing catch-up the rest of the time, so make sure the film has your full attention.The world here seems a little bit like in Demolition Man, but more realistic and less intense.
As English becomes more dominant and other languages in the minority (and therefore more culturally significant), it is likely that foreign terms will be leaked, from the age-old Caucasian tradition of borrowing culture if nothing else.I also loved the fact that the cityscapes were all filmed to imply the future, rather than CG'd or whatever.The storyline was innovative, and there were many dead-ends which fleshed out the story and made it less linear.
Unfortunately for Tim, he falls in love with a girl with whom he is not DNA-compatible, a violation of code 46.Code 46 is derivative of course but ultimately it is fresh cinema, and there are several sub themes about science and morality to think about.Most unique, i thought, was its vision of Shanghai where it seems only half the people are Asian, and everyone speaks English with just a few fundamental phrases from mandarin and Spanish.
He falls in love with her and the story unfolds...The movie asks a lot of questions like "if you know the consequences of your actions, would you still do the same thing in the first place?" to be answered.At this point, the audience should consider the nature of the characters.
One of them is the intuition man( according to Foucault, intuition is the key for true knowledge) the other is a girl having dreams (consider Freud) and there are several reflections on humanity that we are all interconnected...The search for spiritual freedom in the world is a dominant concept in the film.The course of life of the characters are proficiently reflected through out the movie.
The movie follows them in a desperate attempt to escape the strict regulations of Code 46.While a plot like this easily could had ended being another action movie, Frank Cottrell Boyce's story follows a different way, as our characters are not active action heroes, but common people overwhelmed by the power of the corporations that rule the world.
The social aspects of the film make the story even more interesting.The acting is very good, Tim Robbins is perfect as William, his performance as a man that discovers that suddenly, the world is greater than what he thought is very reminiscent of James Stewart's characters in Hitchcock's movies.
They probably did as well as they could and sure the film had some nice aspects (music appropriate all the way through, interesting mix of languages, interesting concept on state restrictions and biotech etc), but overall I ended up really not caring about them very much, and I didn't sympathise with him or his choices, unless he was just so bored with his life that he needed to do something "dangerous" just for the change.I guess they did a good job with the subject, but it doesn't really make any specific points for me, or provide much entertainment - I spent the last 20-30 minutes waiting for it to end (and hoping for something to happen that would surprise/shock/provoke me in some way to justify the relative blandness of the rest of the film)..
As this plodding, plaintive, moody film noir digs into its story, Robbins falls for Morton with whom he has Code 46 issues which creates the conflict at the center of the plot.
It could've been served up with 50% of the story being told as, "How did society get to where it's at in this movie?" but there was really no need for the explanation because the story itself wraps you up; and if you didn't get it, watch it again.Code 46 reminds me a lot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for obvious reasons, but folks, Code 46 is more coherent, better acted, doesn't intentionally try to confuse the audience (which has its rightful place in some movies), leaves one with stronger feelings when the movie's over, and I would say, is worth 2 points better on a scale from 1 to 10.9/10 period.
However, what impressed me again were the details with which the authors addressed the cultural, political and environmental changes in the near future: The cars are almost inaudible; You infect yourself with a virus that helps you learn a language; You need a visa to travel which looks like a bus ticket (even overseas) etc.There are some poetic elements that might spoil your fun, but they were presumably necessary to reinforce the authors' artistic standpoint.Overall this is a very good movie..
For CODE 46, it is the language as almost all the characters speak a combination of Chinese, French, Spanish and English, suggesting that in the very near future, the world gets even smaller and cultures are in fact, combined (In BLADE RUNNER, the lower class in LA speaks a mish-mash of Japanese, German and English  in keeping with the film's post-industrialist themes).
Instead of going old-school with the architecture a la BLADE RUNNER, the locations/sets in CODE 46 actually look modern (as opposed to futuristic) making the world of CODE 46 feel like a very palpable future (would that be a post-postmodernist concept?).The schizophrenic element starts with the two lead characters, played by Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton.
Though what makes someone banished from the "inside" isn't always clear, the very idea that the world has been essentially divided into two sections  the "inside" and the "outside" is, in and of itself, a schizophrenic quality.Now that we've examined the level of sci-fi sophistication within the new world of CODE 46 and its place amongst other postmodernist works, it's time to delve into what makes it a good film itself.
It's set in the near future; cloning; empathy virus; love affair between Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton - further details are irrelevant.
The director, must have spent his apprenticeship in Europe, so determined, it seemed, was he to mimic those "oh so deep", slow moving continental movies that intellectual snobs profess to love, but which bore the majority of us simple folk.I presume they spent much of their budget in seducing Tim Robbins to star – probably with an eye to capturing that all important American audience – yes we may look down on our American cousins, but we still need their money, technology etc.I cannot, with a clear conscious, recommend this film to anyone.
Eventually you can sift through all of these titles and find an exceptionally great one.Look hard enough and you'll come across Michael WInterbottom's Code 46 starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton.
One of the most enforced rules is Code 46, stating that a man and a woman cannot marry and reproduce unless their genetic makeups are "good with each other".William (Robbins) is a government investigator who uses his special abilities to know secret details about people just by asking for a random fact about them.
Michael Winterbottom takes this beyond the usual asexual 1950's sci fi by creating a full environment of compromised people trying to be real human beings as richly as he did in the very different period movie "The Claim." The settings created out of elements of today's world cities and extensions of today's technology create a much more realistic mise en scene than the casting does.
(Why does the Wife like ice cream?) But if you put aside any pretensions of trying to understand the motivations of the characters or the rules they follow, and instead allow yourself to be transported into this near-future world, you'll find a pleasant and likable film which leads neatly to the obvious conclusion.Belief suitably suspended, you can drift quite contentedly from beginning to end and come out happy..
The plot seemed simple enough about the world being divided into subclasses and people needed identity cards and the actor Tim Robbins playing an investigator who goes to shanghai to investigate a employee stealing ID cards, which turns out to be the actress Samantha Morton.You think from that summary the rest of the story should intertyne but it doesn't it just confuses the audience even more with different storyline that don't relate.If you thinking of seeing this movie let me save u the trouble DO NOT GET THIS MOVIE..
I really loved this movie -- it's my favourite type of sci-fi -- where the science is simply there to bring certain things into sharper focus than in the real world.It's very under-stated and doesn't care to explain itself too much, which seems to have frustrated several reviewers here that seem to want everything explained to them.Everything that matters is explained.
The depiction of this future world is extremely well thought out (I especially like how the language has evolved into a multicultural mixture of English, Spanish, French, etc.) The storyline is intriguing but the movie does proceed at a very leisurely pace which may put some viewers off.
We do witness the couple cavorting in the face of every rule declaring their relationship unlawful, resulting in Code 46 receiving an R rating for brief sexuality.This Micheal Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland) project, filmed around Asia and England on a tight budget, features some of the best futurism seen on the silver screen in many years.
Tim Robbins character (William) is so lacking in passion that the idea of his falling instantly in love with Maria (Samantha Morton) seems almost absurd.
Since I had no preconceptions about it I was able to watch with a clear view.Contrary to what people say about this movie I think the pace of the film is wonderful, it is slow but gives out a sense of intimacy between the main characters, their fleeting and unexpected relationship.
'Code 46', I think, has this 'unique power' Gunning is talking about and that is why, despite its narrative flaws, most people I met after the screening loved the film and wanted to see it again on video.
I found it an intelligent and sensitive portrayal of what is commonly a tired Orwellian cliché.Tim Robbins delivers a clean and steady performance but in truth the movie is owned outright by the ethereal Samantha Morton.Somehow this young woman manages to become the character she is playing in such a way that if you had'not seen any of her past performances you would begin to wonder how she was transported back in time to play herself in this film.
Produced by BBC, and not having the same investment as those American partners, it uses real landscapes of today newest made cities with a touch of special effects to made them more futuristic looking obtaining a very nice photography.If you liked "Lost In Translation", you'll find things in common in this film and could be pleasant to view.
A futuristic story about an impossible love in a future world, where there is a strong technologically controlled divide between the haves and the have nots, between the rich and the poor.However one wants to describe this quite mysterious picture, the acting performances by Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton combined with a dream like direction by director Michael Winterbottom (The Killer inside Me/ 24 hour Party People) make this an exquisite delicate story about a love that will never be.
** NO SPOILERS AT ALL ** I would've had to have watched the whole thing to provide them.If you liked Lost in Translation, you will probably love this movie.
I wanted to, really, I did -- I like Tim Robbins movies for the most part, but I just couldn't get on board with this one.After 30 minutes, I never really got a feeling for what made the main characters tick.
Well filmmaker Michael Winterbottom manages to squeeze both into a bizarre , at times hard to keep tabs with, introspective pastiche of 'MINORITY REPORT', 'GATTACA', 'ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND', 'BLADE RUNNER' and every other genre pick that has come down the pike in the past three decades.Set in the near-future (presumably) with an Orwellian undercurrent of paranoia and suspicion interlinking, Robbins plays an investigator named William of some sort for the Big Brother-type government who globe trots from Seattle to Shanghai to look into an ongoing plague of counterfeit 'papelles'  traveling papers a la passports et al  and after questioning one manufacturers employee, Maria (Morton), suddenly finds himself drawn to her and they begin to have a heated affair in spite of his being a married man with a young son awaiting his return.
It is a disquieting science fiction love story with themes that explore the moral impacts of advances in biotechnology.A good, if not slightly disturbing movie about the near future, the control of governments, and the ability of the powers-to-be to control thoughts as well as disease -- as long as you play the game and remain in safe zones.
The director's off-hand approach is meant to call forth a sense of mysterious undertones, ideas moving beneath the action, a certain spiritual hum, but what he accomplishes instead is an insufferable meaninglessness, the sense of throw-away characters occupying a disposable story, Tim Robbins trying to seem enigmatic but only looking wrung-out, Samantha Morton voice-overs offering philosophical nuggets that don't have to melt in your mouth because they've already gone to goo.The plot might've made for a decent sci-fi potboiler, telepathic insurance investigator travels to multi-cultural Shanghai to uncover fraud involving temporary passports, falls for girl involved in crime, tries to flee but is drawn back, becomes embroiled in genetic weirdness, crazy future laws, the sense of a world where ethnic identity is disappearing, except that Winterbottom the artiste thinks himself above his own material, cannot condescend to treat any of it with a real storyteller's touch (or simply doesn't know how to).