Downhill (or: The Tragedy of Eight Souls)

Downhill (or: The Tragedy of Eight Souls) is an upcoming live-action/adult animated independent psychological thriller-drama film co-written, co-produced, photographed, co-edited and directed by Ethan Vasquez in his directorial debut, and features an ensemble cast starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Joaquin Phoenix, Lily-Rose Depp, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Brendan Fraser.
A co-production between United States, United Kingdom, Norway and Brazil written by Ethan Vasquez from a story conceived by Erik Zander, the film portrays eight characters residing in the fictional city of Downhill, as they start to become affected by their own life decisions and how this alters their physical and emotional states. The lack of healthy decisions leaves them trapped in a world of depression and despair. As the film progresses, each character deteriorates and their delusions are shattered by the harsh reality of their situations, resulting in a catastrophe. It is also one of Ethan Vasquez's films to not take place within the Fableverse.
Zander conceived Downhill in November 2023 and wrote the script with Vasquez. The two were both inspired by the films of Darren Aronofsky, particularly Requiem for a Dream (2000) and The Whale (2022). The film's cinematography was inspired by Yorgos Lanthimos' award-winning film, Poor Things (2023), by shooting almost the entire film in black and white, with only the ending being filmed in color, within a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, which are nearly the same technical specifications as Poor Things.
The film received polarizing reviews from both critics and audiences alike, with praise being directed towards the cinematography, direction, perfomances (particularly Chalamet, Zendaya, Phoenix, Depp and Fraser), emotional depth, and themes, while some criticism was directed at its overly dark and depressing tone, portrayal of mental illness, lack of originality, writing, runtime, and depiction of violence.
The film received various Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for several categories.
== Synopsis==
===Setting===
The film is set during the month of December 2019, in the titular city of Downhill, a fictional American megacity located in the northeast region of the United States, which is regarded by many of the film's characters as the "worst city in America" ​​by because of its record-high levels of crime frequency, poverty, social intolerance and overall poor organization.
The city also suffers from rampant criminal violence, political repression, and corporate warfare, exacerbated by an ineffective and corrupt city government and police force.
===Narrative structure===
The narrative of Downhill follows four main interrelated stories that intertwine throughout the film.
Each storyline has a different set of protagonists and each has a different name, all referencing Robert Plutchik's "wheel of emotions", to represent what emotion the plot is supposed to bring to the viewer:
====Edvard and Jenny (Love)====
After Edvard's father, Adrian, begins committing crimes and banishes his own son from his home, Edvard and his love interest Jenny, are forced to form a duo of nomads, and undergo a tumultuous and emotional odyssey to find a new home.
====Rachel, Magnüs and Nathan (Fear)====
Rachel Bouhier is a 17-year-old girl trying to take good care of her adoptive human father, Magnüs Schmidt, an Iraq War veteran who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, extreme anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and post-traumatic mental distress. Magnüs is also taken care of by his psychologist, Nathan Bennett.
====Lincoln (Shame)====
Lincoln Loud is Edvard's 16-year-old best friend who tries to give him good self-defense tips against dangerous criminals and/or bullies, but because of his lack of maturity, his tips are often seen by others as a set of bad influences under Edvard's behaviour. He is also the current boyfriend of Rachel Bouhier, although having a tense relationship with Magnüs, who is Rachel's adoptive father.
====Adrian and Fionna (Disapproval)====
After Edvard's father, Adrian Zeiner, starts committing crimes and frequenting the Scarlet Majesty Casino, he begins to have an unhealthy sexual obsession with the casino's waitress, Fionna Campbell.
Adrian, being a narcissistic man who suffers from depression after the death of Doris Zeiner, his deceased wife, attempts to sexually bond with Fionna, against her will, causing an abusive sexual relationship between the two.
== Cast==
===Main characters=== 
*Timothée Chalamet as Edvard Zeiner / Gabriel / Lucifer / Yin-Yang: A mentally disabled 17-year-old high schooler often disregarded by society, whose history of abuse causes him to develop dissociative identity disorder (DID), whereby his mind creates two distinct personalities called "Gabriel" and "Lucifer". A fourth personality, "Yin-Yang", comes in the third act of the film, fusing all of the three other personalities, and manifesting as an anti-heroic vigilante persona who uses a ghost-inspired yin-yang-looking mask to protect his identity. He has a crush on Jenny Wakeman and is also the son of Adrian Zeiner.
*Zendaya as Jenny Wakeman / XJ-9: A 16-year-old teenage robot girl who is frequently harassed by groups of bullies and also maintains a sexual-romantic relationship with Edvard, who is actually the guy who always gets to defend her.
*Tom Holland as Lincoln Loud: A 16-year-old Scottish toon guy who tries to help out his best friend, Edvard Zeiner, with bad self-defense hints that never work well for Edvard, although it is clear that he never gives out these tips for bad intent.
*Chris Pratt as Adrian Zeiner: A narcissistic, depressed, abusive and impoverished 41-year-old Norwegian gambling addict who lost his wife, Doris Zeiner, due to leukemia five years prior the events of the film. He is the father of Edvard Zeiner.
*Joaquin Phoenix as Magnüs Schmidt: A 51-year-old German-American man who is a retired Iraq War veteran suffering from extreme anxiety, paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD. He is the father of Rachel Bouhier and ex-husband of Gwendoline Bouhier.
*Lily-Rose Depp as Rachel Bouhier: A 17-year-old French-German-American toon girl who was adopted by Magnüs Schmidt and his ex-wife, Gwendoline when Rachel was an infant. She is the daughter of Magnüs Schmidt.
*Chloë Grace Moretz as Fionna Campbell: A 25-year-old toon woman who works as a waitress at the Scarlet Majesty Casino, which is the same casino where Adrian usually frequents. She is the twin sister of Finn Campbell and daughter of Lucy Campbell.
*Brendan Fraser as Nathan Bennett: A 52-year-old Canadian man who works as a psychologist for both Edvard Zeiner and Magnüs Schmidt, and later, becomes a priest at a Catholic church.
===Side characters === 
*Jamie Lee Curtis as Nora Wakeman: Jenny Wakeman's mother.
*Will Poulter as Daniel Mulligan: One of Lincoln Loud's friends and David Wellshire's best friend.
*John Boyega as Clyde McBride: Lincoln Loud's former best friend.
*Nicholas Hoult as David Wellshire: One of Lincoln Loud's friends and Daniel Mulligan's best friend.
*Maddie Ziegler as Stella Butler: One of Edvard Zeiner's classmates.
*Camila Mendes as Ronnie Anne Santiago: Lincoln Loud's Mexican-American girlfriend.
*Evan Peters as Finn Campbell: The twin brother of Fionna Campbell and Phoebe Renberg's boyfriend.
*Emma Watson as Phoebe Renberg: Finn Campbell's girlfriend.
*Bella Ramsey as Hilda Renberg: Phoebe's adoptive British-Russian-Swedish 16-year-old sister and David Wellshire's girlfriend.
*Michael Fassbender as Anders Zharkovsky: Hilda's British-Russian step-father, who is a retired MI6 agent.
*Sandra Hüller as Gwendoline Bouhier: Magnüs' estranged ex-wife and mother of Rachel Bouhier.
===Minor characters=== 
*Margot Robbie as Penny Fitzgerald / The Golden Light: A young yellow fairy newswoman in her early 30's who is the elder daughter of Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the candidates for mayor of Downhill.
*Sebastian Stan as Gumball Watterson: Darwin Watterson's older adoptive brother who is in his late 30's.
*John David Washington as Darwin Watterson: Gumball Watterson's adoptive younger brother who is in his late 30's.
*Amanda Seyfried as Lori Loud: The oldest sister of Lincoln Loud's ten sisters who is Bobby Santiago's wife.
*Taylor Lautner as Bobby Santiago: Lori Loud's Mexican-American husband.
*George Clooney as Patrick Fitzgerald: Penny's father and one of the two candidates for mayor of the city of Downhill as a political member of the Democratic Party.
*Rami Malek as Charles "Chip" Whistler: One of the two candidates for mayor of the city of Downhill as a political member of the Republican Party.
*Jodie Foster as Judith Fitzgerald: Penny's mother and Patrick's wife.
*Florence Pugh as Polly Fitzgerald: Penny's younger sister in her late 20's who is the younger daughter of Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the candidates for mayor of Downhill.
*Jessica McDonald as Carrie Krueger: Darwin Watterson's ghost girlfriend.
*Helena Bonham Carter as Karen Bennett: Nathan Bennett's older sister, who serves as the megalomaniac teacher of Edvard, Rachel, Lincoln, and Jenny's 11th grade classroom.
* Tanner Buchanan as Chandler McCann: A recently-joined member of the Warthogs group who infiltrates Lincoln's life by pretending to be his friend, but aims to kill him and some of his friends by poisoning the drinks at Lincoln's party that takes place in the second act of the film.
*Sandra Bullock as Lucy Campbell: The mother of Finn and Fionna Campbell.
*Keke Palmer as Frida Reitan: One of Hilda Renberg's best friends.
*Liv Tyler as Johanna Renberg: Hilda's British-Swedish mother.
*Vera Farmiga as Abigail Bennett: Nathan Bennett's wife.
*Elizabeth Olsen as Doris Zeiner: The deceased wife of Adrian Zeiner and mother of Edvard Zeiner.
==Accolades ==
===Academy Awards=== 
* Best Picture - Downhill (or: The Tragedy of Eight Souls) (Won)
*Best Director - Ethan Vasquez (Won)
*Best Actor - Timothée Chalamet as Edvard Zeiner / Gabriel / Lucifer / Yin-Yang (Won)
*Best Actress - Zendaya as Jenny Wakeman / XJ-9 (Won)
*Best Supporting Actor - Joaquin Phoenix as Magnüs Schmidt (Won)
*Best Supporting Actor - Brendan Fraser as Nathan Bennett (Nominated)
*Best Supporting Actress - Lily-Rose Depp as Rachel Bouhier (Won)
*Best Supporting Actress - Chloë Grace Moretz as Fionna Campbell (Nominated)
*Best Original Screenplay - Erik Zander, Ethan Vasquez (Won)
*Best International Feature Film - Downhill (or: The Tragedy of Eight Souls) [Norway, Brazil] (Won)
*Best Production Design - Ethan Vasquez, Adam Parker (Nominated)
*Best Cinematography - Ethan Vasquez (Won)
*Best Film Editing - Ethan Vasquez, Adam Parker (Won)
*Best Visual Effects - Ethan Vasquez, Adam Parker (Won)
===Golden Globe Awards=== 
*Best Dramatic Motion Picture - Downhill (or: The Tragedy of Eight Souls) (Won)
*Best Actor in a Leading Perfomance in a Dramatic Motion Picture - Timothée Chalamet as Edvard Zeiner (Won)
*Best Actress in a Leading Perfomance in a Dramatic Motion Picture - Zendaya as Jenny Wakeman (Won)
*Best Actor in a Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture - Joaquin Phoenix as Magnüs Schmidt (Won)
*Best Director - Ethan Vasquez (Won)
*Best Screenplay - Erik Zander, Ethan Vasquez (Won)
===Golden Raspberry Awards=== 
* Razzie Redeemer Award - Maddie Ziegler [From being 2020/21's Worst Supporting Actress winner to playing Stella Butler] (Won)
==Parental Guidance==
===Classification=== 
*Argentina: +16
*Australia: R18+ 
**Australia: MA15+ (edited version)
*Belguim: 18
**Belguim: 16 (edited version)
**Belguim: 14 (YouTube version)
*Brazil: 18
**Brazil: 16 (edited version)
*Canada: 18A
**Canada: 14A (YouTube edition)
*Chile: 18
**Chile: 14 (YouTube version)
* Colombia: 15
* Denmark: 15
*Finland: 16
*France: -16
*Germany: 16
*Hong Kong: III
**Hong Kong: IIB (YouTube version)
* Italy: 18+
** Italy: 14+ (YouTube version)
*Japan: R15+
* Mexico: B-15
*New Zealand: RP18
**New Zealand: RP16 (edited version)
* Norway: 18
** Norway: 15 (edited version)
* Portugal: M/18
** Portugal: M/16 (edited version)
** Portugal: M/14 (YouTube version)
*Spain: 18
**Spain: 16 (edited version)
*United Kingdom: 18 
**United Kingdom: 15 (YouTube version)
*United States: R
===Sex and Nudity (Moderate) === 
* Magnüs has frequent hallucinations about a hideous-looking creature which is apparently shaped like an erect penis. (Scenes are heavily cut in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
* Even though we don't see what's happening, there's a scene where it's implied that Edvard and Jenny had protected sex.
*We have a very brief flashback of Adrian and Doris having sex, showing how Edvard was born. (Scene is heavily cut in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
===Violence and Gore (Severe) === 
* There are ALOT of violent scenes, including scenes that are Hitchcock-level like: 
** When Edvard knocks a bully out with a crowbar.
**When Adrian suffocates Jenny's mom, Nora Wakeman, to death with a pillow to her face. No blood or gore but a little eerie because you can see and hear her struggling and heartbeat racing and then fading away at the end.
**When Edvard accidentally stabs one of his friends in the hand while playing the knife game in a party.
*Even though there are scenes of Hitchcock-level, there are still some very bloody and gory deaths like: 
**
** When Edvard kills three bullies inside a subway train.
**When Edvard stabs and kills Chandler with scissors in front of David and Ronnie Anne. (Scene is heavily cut in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
**When Adrian kills Nathan with an axe. (Scene is heavily cut in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
**When Fionna explodes Adrian's head off by shooting him in the head with a shotgun. (Modified in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
*Throughout the film, as Edvard is more and more disgarded and mistrated by society, his history of abuse then causes him to become a masked anti-heroic vigilante known as Yin-Yang.
*During the party scene, a man gets stabbed in the hand and some characters also get into a fight.
*A man punches through a wall, and another man on the other side of the wall sticks his arm with a knife in his hand though the hole; the man from the other side of the wall walks into the room and shouts at several people, two men begin to wrestle and one man throws another man against a wall.
*Halfway through the film, a scene of Adrian and Edvard fighting occurs.
* In the film, there is a prolonged 7-minute torture scene in which Edvard, in his Yin-Yang alter ego, is seen interrogating a pair of pedophile criminals who kidnapped Jenny to rape her. Edvard, wanting Jenny's location, then brutally tortures the criminals in several different painful ways as they scream in pain and suffering, before finally killing them. (However, this scene is heavily cut in both the edited version and the YouTube version for being the most violent scene in the entire film.)
*In the third act of the film, Adrian kills Patrick Fitzgerald by shooting him in the head with a sniper rifle, during a motorcade celebrating his election for mayor of Downhill.
* Near the end of the film, Nathan is killed by Adrian, who attempts to kill both Edvard and Jenny, but both are saved by Fionna after she kills Adrian by shooting him in the head with her shotgun. (However, Adrian's death, for being too gory, is modified in both the edited version and YouTube version)
===Profanity (Severe)=== 
*Frequent swearing. Constant uses of "f*ck". alongside several uses of "sh*t", "damn", "bit*h", "hell".
*The middle finger gesture is often used.
*Language is constant, strong, and extremely vulgar. From mild profanity, such as "hell", "bastard", "crap" and "ass", to strong language like "b*tch/son of a b*tch", "goddamn", "d*ck", "assh*le", "pr*ck" "p*ssy", "tits", "c*ck", "wh*re", "douche/douchebag", "sh*t", and "f*ck/motherf*cker". There are also many derogatory slurs like "f*ggot" and "r*tard".
===Alcohol, Drugs and Smoking (Moderate)=== 
* Edvard, being a mentally disabled boy, takes medication for psychotherapy.
* Edvard's father, Adrian Zeiner, is shown to be both a stoner and an alcoholic.
===Frightening & Intense Scenes (Severe)=== 
*Throughout the film, Edvard, one of the main characters, is constantly tormented by society and mistreated by almost everyone he comes into contact with. He is punched in the face, kicked while he is helpless on the ground, and called names. All this inspires him to disguise himself and become an anti-heroic masked vigilante who brutally kills criminals to protect people.
*Scenes where Magnüs has a schizophrenic hallucination about his daughter being harmed by a phallic monster could easily frighten younger viewers. (Scenes are heavily cut in both the edited version and YouTube version)
* One of Edvard's developing distinct personalities, Lucifer, is a frightening older version of Edvard who has a grotesquely-deformed face that most definitely will scare younger audiences.
*The scene where Lincoln Loud pukes blood and dies, after eating the food Chandler poisoned, can shock and even frighten younger viewers. (Scene is heavily cut in the edited version and the YouTube version.)
*The ending of the film is highly bittersweet, since even though some of the characters had a positive fate (of those include: Edvard Zeiner, Jenny Wakeman, Magnüs Schmidt, Rachel Bouhier and Fionna Campbell), some of the other characters still had a negative fate (of those include: Lincoln Loud, Adrian Zeiner and Nathan Bennett).
*Overall, the film has an incredibly dark, melancholic, realistic, and depressing tone.
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