Code 46 (2003) User Reviews

What an intelligent portrayal

[lawbuntz · 7/10 · 8 October 2004]

I was blown away by the portrayal of a multicultural community of the future. Languages and races all melded together into one global culture. This film is so coy in displaying its intelligence.

Being an average linguist, I loved the usage of Spanish, arabic, mandarin and more mixed in with English. Enough to entice, little enough to avoid viewer confusion. The backdrops of the scenes looked so natural yet foreign.

I was surprised by the sensuality displayed in the latter part of the film...not being used to seeing Robbins in such scenes. the main actress carries a curious beauty and attractiveness throughout her performance.

I was slightly disturbed by the code 46 violation, but not enough to say that this was not a fascinating experience. 7/10

Airy and charming dystopian romance

[Bloodwank · 7/10 · 15 March 2011]

Code 46 is a film that puts its heart ahead of its head. Fortunately there are times when I can cherish such an endeavour so it worked for me, but I'm not the sort of viewer to tune out my head entirely so it didn't entirely work. For a plot, we have an fraud investigator in a dystopian future falling for his chief suspect. There's romance and plot developments, but the romance is key, the film is a study in wistful mood over and above its narrative. The driving force is the sparking of love in a time of such uncertainty it seems near impossible, a future of uncertain (and perhaps dangerous) genetic identities and instant personality alterations. A time in which mankind has gone so far with genetic experimentation that intrusive legislation and rigid border controls are the governments only tool to keep things under control, with Tim Robbins as or protagonist working to do just that. Now the above might give the impression of science fiction intrigues in a distant new world, but the design is modern with little visually (apart from a pretty awesome road junction) to set it apart from our world, generally conversation and some cold interior designs are what creates its sense of future. As for intrigue, well this gets us to the trouble with the film. Thematically, the potential is high, but by and large the issues are little more than brought up and laid down, if brought up at all. So no serious delving into the moral and biological consequences of events, nor the problems raised by personality alteration viruses, nor even much of a process of realisation/rebellion by our lead. What's there instead is charm, a gentle look at quiet, irresponsible burgeoning romance, deftly essayed by the leads and buttressed by sweet presentation. Tim Robbins does well in suggesting a questing soul beneath a smiling, sincerely insincere exterior, while Samantha Morton is a delight as the object of his affections. With hair cut short and a childlike naiveté she near shimmers in other-world loveliness, a truly likable turn. They have fine chemistry too, so their relationship is a fine one to ride with, much aided by the cinematography and score. Some places look suitably sterile here, but a lot of places are shot with soft, dreamhaze hues as if coming to from a medicated slumber, fitting to the plot. The music, mostly from The Free Association is wistful and shoegazey, again appropriate. The ending does however really spoil the mood established by the wordless score by employing a Coldplay song. I'm probably biased because I loathe Coldplay anyway but even taking that into account I don't think any vocals would really have suited the end of this one. I'm in danger of selling this one perhaps more than it truly deserves, but I did like it a lot. The lack of substance is a big drawback, but maintains a near constantly pleasing tone even if I wasn't thinking much about it after viewing. 7/10 from me, one for romantics methinks.

Xlnt moody shots, subtle and restrained FX but poor storyline.

[quillfiller · 5/10 · 8 August 2006]

First of all I was impressed by the moody shots of Shanghai and the other locations used. Almost had that Blade Runner feel for planting you in a believable future. So many films of this genre, and with massively higher budgets, often fail to achieve the lightness of touch shown here. Not the usual obviously nailed-on FX, but instead subtle and credible gizmos with the personalised touch, like Maria's cuckoo-call tone and graphics on her personal organiser that William uses when trying to find her. And the Esperanto-style combination of phrases everyone uses, from Spanish, French, Chinese etc could easily be envisaged in years to come.

But what really let it down ultimately was the story. Just at the point where you wanted the narrative to move up a gear, instead it just hung there and became a bit self-indulgent. The actors made an excellent job of an often dull script. Maybe the writer couldn't think how to end it. A shame, as it was an opportunity squandered in my opinion.

I got the feeling that Frank Cottrell Boyce, though coming up with some thought - provoking ideas in this film and having done excellent work elsewhere, possibly needed to have collaborated with another writer that could have injected some pace and fresh perspective just at the point the film ran out of steam. I'm a great fan of Michael Winterbottom's (especially on "Jude")evocative and atmospheric camera-work, but that alone couldn't salvage the film from ultimately being disappointing.

Warmth in a Cold World

[MichaelCarmichaelsCar · 19 September 2004]

'Code 46' is the most beautiful film I've seen in quite some time. It's funny how something entirely new is produced when the properties of film noir and futuristic sci-fi are married. 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. The movie is set, one gathers, in the future (or an "alternative present," to paraphrase another reviewer). Like the best futuristic films, it's set on the same planet Earth, but the planet's simply been restructured; the old occupants have left and the new ones have moved in. No longer are there countries, only cities, only business destinations.

Pleasure is not a goal, but a side effect. The locations photographed are, as in 'Alphaville,' as in 'Sans Soleil,' not manipulated or artificial, but they are photographed in a new way. Contemporary cities look futuristic, commercial, busy, cold, with pools of dark glass and beads of light from skyscraper windows. For me, this kind of imagery is the among the most romantic and evocative. Cold, impersonal environments like these simultaneously forbid and necessitate human warmth. 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. Far beyond simply being a trivial footnote in what will hopefully be a career of formidable longevity, I think 'Code 46' is perhaps Winterbottom's best work yet, the movie I intuited Winterbottom had dormant in him. 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.

Pretty good sci-fi, non-action film

[travis-j-rodgers · 7/10 · 25 March 2005]

It's not easy to make a successful sci-fi film that does not rely on a lot of special effects and a huge budget. This is probably why I had never heard of Code 46 before seeing it on the shelves at Hollywood Video. I'll be honest. I only picked it up because Tim Robbins and the girl from Minority Report (whose name I can't recall) are in it. That plus the fact that I've seen most of the movies at Hollywood. But I digress.

Right off the bat, I was entertained by Tim Robbins. His initial mind-reading scene is clever and entertaining at the same time. And then, instead of the moving lapsing into animated robots and blazing guns, it takes a page from older sci-fi works and becomes very much about dark, serious struggles, philosophical issues, and the blurring of reality with something that is not quite real. I thought the movie was quite well-done, Robbins was very good, and the feel of the film was quite a throwback to times when Sci-Fi was good.

I'd give it a 7.5/10, better than your typical movie by a few notches. Well worth a rent.

slow but good

[dragokin · 7/10 · 20 February 2013]

I remember watching Code 46 accidentally in a theater shortly after it's release. It was substitute for another movie that a group i was with missed. Describing it afterwards as a low-budget SF drama was misleading but i had no better choice of words...

Some years down the road, i've purchased the DVD and saw it again. Code 46 appeared much slower than i remembered. 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.

Unexpected love in a dysfunctional future

[Nurflugel9 · 7/10 · 13 February 2005]

Not a great movie and not one for everyone, but a thought-provoking one with good performances by Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton in an interesting romantic pairing. If this were a book, it might be called a Cyberpunk novel, that is, a science fiction story set in a not so rosy future. This film reminds me most of Until The End Of The World, but the story has similarities to Minority Report, Gattaca, A.I., Johnny Mnemonic and others that you can think of where the future is represented as not so great. If you are a Sci-Fi reader, and you like the novels of Ursula K. LeGuin, you will see the similarity to her style of "soft" science fiction that examines the social implications of scientific advances.

This might be called a slow movie as it does not not have a lot of fast action, unlike Minority Report, though both share a good performance by Samantha Morton much as MR did, although in a starring role here. It has a leisurely feel to it, much more in common with Until The End Of The World, which it resembled so much in tone that it had me checking the writing and directing credits, though there was no commonality there. Director Michael Winterbottom is no Wim Wenders, but does a credible job of keeping the Frank Cottrell Boyce story on track.

What you will find is a love story between people who did not expect to find it, in circumstances that are unexpected. That's the twist. A bit of a stretch to find their actions believable? Since when does love follow a logical progression? This is a sequence of actions with unexpected actions and consequences, but to enjoy it you must not expect something that will race along at breakneck speed.

The use of words and phrases blended from languages whose populations are currently experiencing high growth rates are not unreal, but somewhat unexpected, so be prepared to hear some common Chinese and Spanish words and phrases being used from the beginning. It had me wishing there were subtitles for which I will look forward to a DVD rental of this title. A majority of English made it easy for a native speaker of that language and I also noted a little French. Conspicously absent were phrases from another language-speaking group whose large population is experiencing rapid growth, Hindi, from which we already use the common words pajamas and shampoo. I do look forward to the deleted scenes on the DVD to see if they could improve the overall work, much as I look forward to the Director's Cut of Until The End Of The World.

As I have recently been contemplating the future of the increasing "freedom" allowed by universal identity cards and credit card tracking, I find this a believable scenario, if a global government ever emerges. Judge for yourself, but I find this a future that could happen. The interesting issues addressed here are the benefits such measures would allow in exchange for personal freedoms. We have seen this in the U.S.A. with greater national security traded for personal freedoms, and as such this is a timely topic for its release in 2003.

Overall I found this an enjoyable movie, albeit not one with a traditional American happy ending. Some may object to a female protagonist having unconventional beauty (extremely short hair, no makeup) or a male protagonist making illogical choices (leaving a wife and child for a sudden love affair). Most unexpected is the type/extent of nudity that is ultimately shown in the final love/sex scene. As far as the action therein: remember, she asked for it (literally). However, the consequences suffered by the two protagonists in view of the knowledge of their actions may leave you with an old adage stuck in your mind at the end: Life isn't fair.

Slow, tedious, boring, uneventful.

[Rooster99 · 3/10 · 11 August 2004]

Unbelievably boring, trite, moronic, it tries to be an intellectual scifi movie a-la equally tedious Solaris, but fails miserably. There are far too many plot holes and just plain silly events. For instance, they constantly talk about "losing cover" as if it meant that the person is without state-sponsored global insurance. The movie is deliberately vague on this point, supposedly to ferment discussion. Could it be that the person is disenfranchised and cast out into the desert? Or does it mean that the ozone layer has depleted and those living outside of cities have no protection, hence no cover? Who cares? The movie made a big point of showing Robbins arriving in Shanghai during the day, noting through the voice-over that no one arrives during the day. There are no cars on the Expressway, and no one is on the streets, thereby implying that one cannot survive in the daylight. Robbins also has to dim his hotel-room windows immediately upon arrival. The city-dwellers are portrayed as middle and upper-classmen whilst the desert-dwellers are all poverty stricken. There is even a scene when Robbins and Morton are shown running at dawn with a coat over their heads protecting themselves from the emerging sun's supposedly harmful rays. Yet later on, one whole day later, they are prancing about in bright sunshine at an open air market, living free, outside the city. The movie continually contradicted itself.

****** POTENTIAL SPOILERS *******

A Code 46 is an anti-incest law born of the need after in-vitro fertilization (test tube babies) becomes the norm. It is almost totally immaterial to the plot. Robbins sleeps with Morton, she gets pregnant, and literally that night is forced to have an abortion when a Code 46 violation is announced. Robbins finds out she has the same genes as his mother, which simply means she was created in a test tube from his mother's DNA. So what?

That's it! That is the end of the Code 46 issues! There is no drama, no big brother, nothing. They run off into the desert, continue their incestuous affair for one night, and get tracked down by the Code 46 police.

She is cast out, he is brain-washed, end of movie. BORING! Also, the voice over notes that she is allowed to keep her memory of the events, because the government doesn't care about what occurs outside of "cover". So why did they suddenly care that a Code 46 violation occurred out in the desert? Supposedly, all those people are Code 46 violators! Yet Morton is given a virus which forces her to report herself. It doesn't make sense, they can't have it both ways.

A few more points. The voice over was terrible, seemingly added as an afterthought. Morton and Robbins have no screen chemistry at all, none, zero. He just looks bored throughout. He supposedly falls in love with her after a single 5-minute interview. Right... He follows her, beds her, and then splits to his wife and kid. One night stand. Until his company forces him to go back because he didn't do his job. Then suddenly he gets all wishy-washy telling her he loves her when he is back in Shanghai. Yawn. He was never planning to go back, why the sudden change in his emotions?

Robbins has an "empathy virus" which allows him to determine who the guilty party is. That is what he is paid for. Seems simply enough, why fly in an expert if anyone can take the virus and become like him? Why don't more people know about the virus, instead they are all impressed with his password-guessing game except at the clinic in the desert which employs an "anti-empathy virus virus". What???? Why doesn't every company employ that? Seems like people can take viruses to immeasurably improve their lives (Morton took a Mandarin virus and spoke fluent Mandarin!!). Stupid.

The problems with this movie go on and on. They even tried to employ a little gratuitous nudity with a beaver-shot that added nothing to the plot, but garnered the picture an R rating. Without that 2-second shot, it would have been rated Family since nothing happens during the entire movie.

Boring, tedious, full of plot holes, pretentious, and a waste of time.

The plot is almost secondary for such a great deal of the film and you can't really get a feel for what it is actually about.

[aw-20 · 10/10 · 14 March 2004]

I had the pleasure and the privilege of attending a screening of this film recently. It had been unveiled in an incomplete state at the Venice film festival and in a more complete state at the Rotterdam festival last year. It has since been re-edited and was played for the first time to close the Birmingham Screen Festival ahead of its worldwide release later in the year (probably August/September).

It is the newest collaboration between British director and writer team, Michael Winterbottom and Frank Cottrell Boyce. 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. The idea is that many cloned embryos are produced by IVF and so there are a number of genetically identical people in the world. So the potential is there for you to meet someone who is genetically related to you, so everyone must be screened before they marry. Any births resulting from Code 46 liaisons are terminated.

The plot is almost secondary for such a great deal of the film and you can't really get a feel for what it is actually about until very close to the end, and that is what made it so refreshing for me. It was more about the feel of the places, the emotions of the two characters (Robbins and Morton) and their developing relationship. You really don't know much about this futuristic society that people are now living in, or why it came to be like that. It reminded me of Hitchcock in that he would have a plot feature that was necessary for the whole story to take place, but it was almost secondary to the story itself (Hitch called it 'the macguffin'). An example of this is the stolen diamonds in North By Northwest.

In those respects it reminded me of Lost In Translation in that it was more about some subconcious feeling you got from the film, the characters and the whole atmosphere than about plot points. It makes it confusing and you wonder whether you'll get to the end without knowing anything, but when the end comes you've found yourself having actually picked up lots of information unwittingly. And more importantly, you really feel for and love the two characters. 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. It looks fresh and stylish and is the result of shooting partly on film and partly on DV and utilising numerous digital effects. The very low budget of the film also meant that they couldn't build any large sets, so instead the film is made entirely on location (Shanghai, middle east and Westminster tube station in London).

We were treated to a Q&A with one of the actors and with the producer who gave a great deal of insight into the film, and I for one left the cinema feeling very lucky to have seen it.

When its in cinemas later in the year I recommend you go and see it. 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.

Haunting

[sulari · 6/10 · 10 September 2003]

It will be very difficult not to compare this to Blade Runner and when one does then this film does not come up to par. It is a haunting piece which left too many questions unanswered. Performances are great and direction superb, so why did this film leave me so cold and indifferent? CODE 46 is another film about a very bleak future supposedly just around the corner from our time space. (Why are films about the future always so bleak?) Authorities have managed to find a way to eradicate memories and it is this plot point that carries what could have been explosively emotional fireworks. Sadly there is no real spark between the two leads and by the time you figure out what this is about (manipulation of memory - among other themes) it's way past the comfort zone. (SPOILER NEXT)

And then the car accident. Too much guys. Honestly. I wanted to care but I couldn't. This film has been crafted by great professionals and talented artists all round, but the script falls somewhat short of a coherent narrative. Lots o shiny style covering a murky tale. The unnesessarily long dance sequence and first simulated love scene simply went on and on and on and.... There is a great moment when the picture cuts back and forth between a previously established dream sequence and the continuation of narrative. A brilliant sequence worthy of a talented film maker. The photography is stunning and deserves accolades. I really did not want to hear that comment on my way out of the theatre during the Toronto Film Festival, about how clever the director was to avoid seeing cars on the streets and highways which of course would have ruined the future theme, by insinuating that the characters travelled during early hours and therefore traffic was light. I wanted to tell him they could have easily used CGI...but tell me it ain't so Mr. Winterbottom!

Thought-provoking Science-Fiction movie without visual especial effects

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 25 May 2005]

The film deals with an agent (Tim Robbins) of a Corporation called sphinx who must discover a forgery of documents that serve to immigrants to enter at civilized and developed zones . The prime suspect is a girl (Samantha Morton) who falls in love with the starring infringing the code 46 . In the future...love is a dangerous game. A doomed and utopic romance by genetic incompatibility . How do you solve a crime when the last thing you want to know is the truth? Can you miss someone you don't remember? Can a single moment ever disappear completely?

In the film there is intense drama , suspense , a love story but turns out to be a little slow-moving and that's why it is a bit boring, although the runtime is adjusted , but the run is ninety minutes , approx . The picture isn't an ordinary Sci-Fi movie but it is a clever , brooding and thoughtful parable about future . Resulting to be a futuristic Brief Encounter with a Science Fiction love story in which a doomed love story goes wrong . Code 46 refers to the 22 chromosome pairs, plus the two sex chromosomes in human beings . The pic has a certain resemblance to ¨Gattaca¨(Andrew Nicol) regarding a cold and dystopian future . The motion picture was professionally directed by Michael Witterbotton who has directed all kinds of genres , thus : Drama (Wonderland ), costumer (Jude) , warlike (welcome to Sarajevo) , Western (the claim) , musical comedy (24 hours party) , documentary fiction (In this world) , erotic (9 songs) and now sci fi (code 46) . Witterbotton said about this film he wanted to make a remake to ¨Brief encounter¨ (David Lean) set in the utopia , in a nearly civilization . The picture achieved Award in Sitges festival to the best European film and musical score . However , obtaining limited success at the box office because being a bit tiring , dull and complex . The yarn will appeal to intelligent science fiction movies fans

Pleasing lack of visual noise

[netgrazer · 8/10 · 16 March 2005]

I liked how the movie didn't scream at me, trying to deafen me with whatever kind of message the actors and director wanted to convey... I had to work a little bit to see what there was to be seen - which I like, and I found the lack of CGI and laser guns thoroughly refreshing. The pace was right, and the music fit the mood of the movie.

The movie as a whole has a distinct human quality like I used to enjoy in those 50's sci-fi stories the way Philip K. Dick could write them. The same atmosphere that's usually gone in Dick's flashy Hollywood rewrites.

The intercultural lingo is a lot of fun to listen to, it's not too tacky and not too overdone, it sounds almost natural to me.

All in all a good 8 out of 10 stars from me. If there was more of a puzzle to be solved throughout the film (it does have you wonder where things are going in the beginning) I would have probably rated it even higher, because I like my stories a little mysterious and not too straightforward. I can imagine that some people find the acting slightly too bland for their tastes, but I feel it's far better to err on the side of caution than to produce another vehicle for overacting and improbable characters.

Deflated approach to love in the near future

[Imdbidia · 6/10 · 10 February 2011]

Code 46 is a Michael Winterbottom allegory about a near future world where human relationships are society are damned by the power of eugenics and the extensive use of in-vitro genetically-designed pregnancies.

Tim Robbins is William Geld, a Government official on a trip to Shanghai to investigate a case of document forgery in a government security plant. There, he finds worker Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton), to whom he feels immediately attracted despite his conviction that she is the forger. Their love story, however, is cursed from the beginning as, under Code 46, they must not enter in a relationship, get married or have a baby as they share at least 46% of their genetic code and are strongly family related.

The movie is an allegoric projection into the future of the technological, scientific and cultural trends and issues predominant in the modern world. Being so, Code 46 is set in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society. The characters in the movie use an hybrid English mixed with words from different languages, mostly Spanish, but also Italian, French, Mandarin, Arabic, and Basque among others, which work in the say way Spanglish does nowadays. Winterbottom's future is strictly compartmented and structured, with a controlled individual freedom, and limited freedom of movement between world areas unless you have "papelles" [= from the Spanish papeles, i.e. papers/documents), which are only granted depending on your health state and genetic disposition to certain maladies and weaknesses. A believable situation in which Private Health Insurance and Government are almost the same.

The premises of the film are brilliant, thought-provoking and original, although connected with themes already presented in Gattaca. The high-tech future world is perfectly drawn and showed, and uses a mix of Shanghai, Dubai and Kuala-Lumpur futuristic urban settings and architecture, which provide a very sleek urban, metallic imagery and a cold feeling. In contrast, the outcast areas are wilder, more rural and underdeveloped, but warmer from a human point of view; they were shot in the desert area near Dubai and in India. The music (with a cameo performance by Mick Jones singing "Should I stay or should I go?) is also great, and gives a great mood to the movie.

Despite the undeniable style and good premises of the movie, this gets washed out by a poor script that soon departs from the love story, which it is supposed to be the core of the movie. The leading characters are poorly drawn and explored, and the love story feels more like a lust story than anything else; moreover, Robbins and Morton don't have a great chemistry on camera either so the movie ends lacking emotion and the viewer ends the film thinking, where is the love? On the other hand, the outcast society and the outcasts are barely introduced, so it is difficult to understand the sort of world we are dealing with, as we are just presented with the developed part of it. In other words, while the future society feels like real future, the outcast society looks more like the underdeveloped rural areas of our modern world, not the underdeveloped areas of the future.

A thought-provoking film with sleek visuals and music that is wasted by a drafted script and mediocre performances.

Lo siento

[=G= · 5/10 · 30 January 2005]

"Code 46" is all about a married with child investigator, Robbins, in a futuristic world where people are cloned creating the potential for accidental inbreeding which would violate a statute called Code 46; hence, the film's title. 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. "Code 46" offers two good players, some excellent cinematography, and little else. It is tedious, full of time wasting filler, and, worst of all, not particularly engaging or provocative with an unsatisfying conclusion. Morton narrates with periodic profundities, people speak Spanglish, and the world of the film looks very much like the world of today. Not recommendable except for Robbins or Morton fans and sci-fi junkies. (C+)

Possibly A Scary Look At What The Government Will Be Telling You What You Can Do Next.

[BigHardcoreRed · 14 January 2005]

This one is billed as a love story set in the "near future". I got the idea it was more of a one night stand set in the near future, considering the main character, William (Tim Robbins), was married with a son waiting back home. 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. It's kind of the same way police codes work today whereas a 187 is a homicide, etc. A Code 46 is, in a nutshell, if two people share the same "genetic identity" (read - DNA), anywhere from 25% to 100% the same, they are not permitted to conceive a child. Any pregnancy resulting from a Code 46 must be "terminated". 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. You need what is called a "papelle" in order for you to enter a real city through a checkpoint and if you do not have one, you are doomed to stay outside of any major cities. In reality, this was more similar to Tijuana. They were mobbed by people selling fruits or whatever to anyone that stopped near them, etc., which was a more likely realistic future than that of Demolition Man.

Also, the language and people were more of a melting pot around the world. Just about everyone primarily spoke English, but no one said "Thank you", it was "Gracias" and other little things of that nature.

Tim Robbins style in this movie reminds me of Jeff Daniels for some reason. I think it is his voice acting, there's not much else to act with here and I really think he came out looking kind of stale. Samantha Morton looked like Sinéad O'Connor and not very attractive, but I believe her performance was a little more believable, although not great.

With all that in mind, you really have to be in the right mood to watch this. It's definitely a movie that you have to think about to understand what is happening and you can't just sit with a tub of popcorn and be entertained. Take that in consideration and decide for yourself if this is your type of movie. I honestly did not care for it, but can appreciate the little things that went on in the movie and I realize that just because it isn't for me, it is still pretty good. 7/10

A Futuristic Language in a Dystopian World

[heatheross · 7/10 · 11 March 2019]

I absolutely love this film. I have seen it more times than I can count for a few different reasons, one of them being its calming nature and music, and another, strangely enough, and another being the language they had developed for the film. I greatly enjoy linguistics, and I strongly believe the language they had developed for the film is an incredibly realistic projection of how we will communicate in the future on an international level. Languages are not just created by someone sitting down and 'writing a language', but develop via the adoption of popular vocabulary and grammar from other dominant languages, and they continue to evolve over time. This movie is set in the future, English is the dominant, international language (as it is now), and it is peppered with languages including Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, and Arabic. For instance, the Spanish words of 'chico' and 'chica' are used to refer to male and female children, and 'palabra' for password. greetings are in multiple languages, but mostly the Chinese, 'ni hao', and Arabic, 'As-salaam-alaikum...'. Airplane travel is referred to as 'par avion', a car is the Spanish, 'en coche', a suitcase/hand luggage or carrying one's luggage is the Italian, luggage 'a mano'. The language had been a clever creation, and a quite wonderful and intellectual surprise. Be sure to watch with English subtitles so you catch all of the references, plus it'll help with the accents. Regarding the film itself, I think it is a smart take on the future it isn't perfect, such as when the nurse explained the 'situation' and why clones don't necessarily express themselves identically the same each time, I had had to figure out what she had meant. I had also wished the couple had been able to spend more time together because I feel it had been over far too quickly; there had been so much effort made into getting them together just for them to part without really getting the reward of being with one another. I think the movie is a great concept, and aptly conveys a dystopian future that has been badly affected by Global Climate Change, terrible air pollution, and the Ozone Layer is so depleted that life must be lived at night. Simple things like traveling into certain 'zones' can only be done if you have permission, which is denoted by having a 'cover' for the allotted amount of days, and if you overstay your 'cover', you are stuck there, not allowed to leave, but if you are a visitor then how can you stay? No money, no job, no place to live...quite dystopian, indeed.

forbidden love story in a possible future

[dromasca · 7/10 · 17 February 2005]

WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILERS

It's strange when a science-fiction film gives you a feeling of deja vu, but this is the case with 'Code 46'. The cool, unfriendly, Big Brother controlled future already appeared in many films, from '1984' to 'Minority Report'. Here, genetics engineering seems to be the dominant technology. World is being divided between a well controlled and anti-septic First World, and a Third World with sub-citizens left at their destinies will (nothing new, right?). The language of the future is English, with some Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and French basic enough for any viewer to understand. Tim Robbins is kind of a detective - profiler investigating a fraud with the bio-passes used to allow traveling from place to place. Samantha Morton is the main suspect, but Tim falls in love with her, although the love story proves soon to be in contradiction with the genetics and society laws. Although he knows their love story is forbidden, he will go for it - love defies reason - in a hopeless but so human adventure.

There are many things to enjoy in this movie like good acting from the leading actors - especially Samantha Morton. Although she seems here to develop the role from 'Minority Report' rather then creating something new, she is so fresh, vulnerable and different that I am ready to bet we will here much more from her in the coming years.

Director Michael Winterbottom succeeds in some of the external shots in creating some strong atmosphere of that future world, but overall the pace of the film is too slow and cannot escape a sensation of stiffness. It's a good movie for science-fiction fans, but not a great one. 7 out of 10 on my personal scale.

Prescient tale of medical-scientific tyranny effectively told but romance narrative proves plodding

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 9 March 2022]

Let's talk first what's good about this 2003 British film set in a dystopian future. In some ways screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce was ahead of his time by questioning the mantra plaguing us now in these current dystopian times: "trust the science." Indeed in Code 46 Boyce suggests that in the future "science"-specifically gene alteration and DNA technology-will be utilized for nefarious purposes.

Code 46 is a law enacted by governments worldwide to prevent sexual reproduction between certain classes of people. Specifically, people who are related to one another through the cloning of fetuses.

In this film, the protagonist, insurance investigator William Geld (Tim Robbins) is violating the law when he has sex with insurance company employee Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton), 50% related to Geld's mother due to the aforementioned cloning technology. Like the PCR testing in our own time, DNA testing here is used to legitimize draconian regulations of the state.

And just like the current discriminatory distinctions between "vaxxed" and "unvaxxed," the world of Code 46 posits a separation of those on the "inside" and those "a fuera" (on the outside). In order to be a part of legitimate society, one must obtain a cover (essentially insurance company documents) sanctioning travel. The "cover" is akin to the current call for "Digital ID passports."

Code 46 cleverly introduces a "global pidgin language" in which English (apparently the universal language of the future) has been altered through the introduction of words and phrases from other languages (particularly Spanish). Hence your cover now consists of papeles (Spanish for papers)-passports which permit the previously alluded to permission to travel.

Despite all these prescient predictions of things to come, Code 46 turns out to be pretty much an ordinary love story. William travels to Shanghai where he is tasked with discovering who has issued fraudulent covers. He discovers it's Maria who is committing illegal acts providing "papeles" but promptly falls in love with her and blames someone else.

When Williams must return to Shanghai it becomes clear that both have been found out. Together they try to escape but eventually they're caught and the state erases William's portion of his memory related to his errant behavior with Maria but allows him to resume his happily married life back in the States.

Williams' bad behavior is blamed on an "empathy virus"-it would have been much more interesting had screenwriter Boyce suggested that the virus wasn't real and simply medical science propaganda inculcating a superstitious belief among a brainwashed populace.

Maria's fate is more draconian and sad-they allow her to keep her memories but she's banished to the outside where she'll pine away her days thinking about the now memory erased William.

Robbins and Morton effectively convey the lovers living in a dystopian nightmare-although just about everything that happens proceeds at a snail's pace.

The government's attempt to address "public safety" in the future stems from the dreadful consequences of medical and scientific interference with the natural order (the use of cloning technology creates the real possibility of birth defects due to the reality of artificially induced incestuous relations).

As a result, the film effectively gauges the underlying authoritarianism inherent in a science that brooks no dissent and arrogantly seeks to fiddle with the field of genetics (leading to untold suffering). Today the hubris of mainstream science also seeks to "play around" in areas which also are fraught with immense danger.

But perhaps the current time is more insidious as the threat to public health is based on wholly speculative theories which are not permitted to be challenged-soon perhaps we will have our own "Code 46" which will enshrine the tyrannical dictates of the state leading to the disappearance of our fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Founding Fathers of a once great nation.

The most ridiculously stupid movie I've seen in a long time

[hometheatregirl · 1/10 · 4 March 2005]

If you are a weirdo who thinks it's "romantic" and wonderful to have sex with a woman who is the genetic equivalent of your mother, get her pregnant, and then have sex with her again once she's had an abortion AND not tell her that she is related to you, then you would like this movie.

Nevermind the fact that the guy is married and has a son at home - it makes it even more disgusting and deplorable that he has no conscience as to what he's doing. He can't do right by his job, his family, OR Maria. He's a loser. There is nothing romantic or positive about this movie - it is vile and incestuous.

It moves slowly and it leads nowhere for over the first half of the movie. I couldn't even finish watching this pathetic excuse for a 'romance'. I'm glad we didn't waste our money in the movie theater on this one. 0/10

A love story of the future.

[MEHHS · 8/10 · 24 July 2004]

There are not many movies I would take time to comment on, but this is definitely one of them. 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. Her brief graphic nudity scene was definitely an original in mainstream cinema, I'm not sure what reaction the director was hoping to get from it? but I personally feel its wasn't required, don't forget, its the things we don't see that excite us the most.

It seems that every futuristic film is compared to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, which I feel is always unfair, as Blade Runner is a classic in ever sense of the word, a true high point in the history of cinema. 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.

A disquieting science fiction love story with themes that explore the moral impacts of advances in biotechnology.

[patrick-j-fee · 6/10 · 4 June 2011]

Code 46 is a 2003 British film directed by Michael Winterbottom, with screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It was produced by BBC Films and Revolution Films. 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. Kinda of Owellian with a dash of William Gibson and a taste of "Brazil". Oh... and a hint of "Babylon A.D."...without Vin Diesel!

The mix of Spanish, English, Mandarin and Arabic in regular speech w/o subtitles was reminiscent of "Bladerunner". The idea that our everyday speech will become more of a polyglot mix in the future is very intriguing as well. Which words will become prevalent? Which will die out?

This is definitely a film to rent with some friends and then have a great discussion afterward.

Incomplete and indiscreet

[Polaris_DiB · 3/10 · 10 July 2006]

What's interesting about this film is that almost all of the blurbs and synopses of it give it more plot than it actually has. Most of them are true in that they describe roughly what happens, but they're misrepresented in that they don't really show how little actually happens in this movie.

A guy named William is investigating fraudulent "papelles" when he meets a woman named Maria, who he falls in love with. This is bad because due to the futuristic society where clones can cause problems with genetic discrepancies, they shouldn't breed. Thus they aren't allowed to be together and the evil society hunts them down while they attempt to run.

It's basically a series of genre conceits, which is alright except it's loosely cut--more like stapled--together with a loose assortment of ideas and a really bad voice-over. Most importantly, it doesn't go anywhere. At times it seems like it wants to have some interesting ideas, but then it decides not to explore it, instead just going on and letting us assume that this story means something.

I only found two things interesting with it: the abuses of authority William has when he has the virus and the potential Oedipal nature of his relationship with Maria. Neither were explored because it seems the writer didn't care. All we know is that these two people are apparently in love (despite next to no chemistry) and that somehow it needs to be illegal to warn about a society set too strictly. The only theme is the importance of living up to risks, but even that seems to be underdeveloped... nothing really goes anywhere here.

To be perfectly honest, it seems almost as if this movie goes on a tight budget until the money runs out... and then the filmmakers dropped everything and cut it together using serrated scissors in a dark room. It looks like everyone involved WANTS to really explore this brave new world, but nobody ultimately had the resources. However, it's practically pointless to try to think about what this film could have been, considering it pretty much isn't anything anyway.

--PolarisDiB

It makes you wonder where all the ordinary grown-ups come from.

[film-critic · 10/10 · 11 January 2005]

Take moments of Blade Runner, the lost themes of Lost in Translation, and the haunting images of Gattaca and mix them all into a big bowl, your final product would look something like Code 46. Winterbottom's vivid imagination and intelligent storytelling is proved once again as he successfully builds another chapter into sci-fi's growing history. His ability to take a simple story about a forbidden love and transform it to a different time and culture was outstanding. His themes of love, laws, and family are so dominate that he is able to handle them with the greatest of ease and use them to even paint a bolder picture. 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. Winterbottom proves that no genre is too small for him to tackle.

To begin, look at that chemistry between Robbins and Morton. The sparks were literally flying out of my television when they were together on-screen. Their presence together fueled this film to a new level by creating a truth to their relationship. We were rooting for something that was illegal in today's society as well as this fictitious futuristic one. That is a hard concept to grasp for most audiences, but with Winterbottom behind the camera guiding this masters through the motions, it came across as nothing more than pure art. Robbins has this ability to make every character he touches into this humanistic screen element of yourself. You see yourself in this man as he struggles with the truths that surround him. He isn't just having an affair, he is in love with someone that the law will not allow. That would be hard to pull off for any actor, but Robbins seems to hit his mark with ease. Morton is no different. She has proved time and time again that she can handle the intense films, and Code 46 is yet another demonstration. She handles herself so well, giving us so much from those big eyes that seem to speak for themselves. We sympathize with her dilemma and want her to continue so that Robbins and her can meet again and again. She is a very complex character with more layers that I could count, yet we see each and every one of them in Morton's role. She holds nothing back and honestly gives 100% throughout the entire film. That is hard for any actor to do, but Morton does it with the greatest of ease. It is obvious that she will continue to be a strong cinematic force in Hollywood.

Second to the phenomenal acting, you have a brilliantly colorful future. While robots and genetics seem to be the dark horse of this civilization, it is a guiding light to see love emerge from it all. The beauty of the city only enhances this sensation even stronger. The contrast between the city and the desert looming outside shows no blurred lines. It helps us to see the symbolic references to our society and the lack of change to this new one. Winterbottom pulls no punches with his cinematography, taking ideas from Blade Runner and Gattaca, he thrives on the night and sunlight to show the horror and beauty of the surroundings. He does not color coat anything with fake CGI, but instead places you in this very realistic world that could eerily happen tomorrow (watch the current news and you will see the reference). Winterbottom does a great job of giving us both dimensions of this multi-faceted world.

Finally, I have to applaud Winterbottom for the script that he chose. Frank Boyce clearly has done his homework in both the sci-fi genre as well as the love-interest films. He successfully combines the two into this brilliant display of both modern and post-modern culture. He clearly defines the emotion of love through our characters, then throws a big shock through the system halfway into this epic. What we know, or thought we knew about his world changes instantly, but in a very calm and crisp way. He also imaginatively creates this era where languages do not divide us, but instead is required to know throughout the world. I thoroughly loved the idea that everyone knows all languages. It broke the thought that this was going to be an American film. The concept of the virus was impeccable. While not much is said about this invention, the consequences that it has on the film continually keep us on our toes. 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. Winterbottom continues to break new boundaries with his random choices of projects that impresses over and over and over again. For those of you that did not understand this film, I ask (wait, request) that you see it again. It cannot be enjoyed with just one viewing. Code 46 is a multi-view film that opens itself more and more to you the more often you watch it. This emotional film brought tears to my wife's eyes. Impressive and challenging! Thanks, Mr. Winterbottom!

Grade: ***** out of *****

a strange movie, mostly for combining urban landscapes and incest with top talent

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 3 June 2008]

To say that Michael Winterbottom tried to be "different" with Code 46 might be an understatement, but he's always experimenting from film to film (i.e. 24 hour party people, 9 Songs, Tristram Shandy, Road to Guantanamo), so it's almost expectable he'd take a stab at some intellectual sci-fi. The comparisons to other sources and art-house fare could be made- Wong Kar Wai with some of the hand-held style and narration (albeit nowhere near as convincing as WKW's style for the latter), Alphaville &/or Solaris as points of reference for how to make an ordinary post-modern city leap way into the future with specific cinematographic flourishes, and some Orwell for good measure- and at the end of it all it's a happy note to report that it is a somewhat original piece of work.

That it isn't very masterful is another. Or that it's really absorbing with much of its promise. The title of the film refers to one of the many codes in this future society, where-in there are specific guidelines regarding incest, and the bans on relationships and/or procreation involved therein. As it turns out, a relationship unfolds in the film between an "inside" world detective with psychic abilities (Robbins) and an "outside" world worker who keeps having the sort of same dream every birthday (Morton). There's some intriguing ground to mine here, and I was hoping with the actors game for whatever that Winterbottom could hit it out of the park. This isn't really the case.

It's a strange movie, and even with things under the surface as it is a creepy one. But it's got such a laconic pace, such a current of avant-garde restlessness that we never get to know much about these characters more than just the little things specific to their natures (i.e. Robbins's withdrawn state and Morton only a little more-so). I wouldn't even go far as to call it dull as it's just trying to go for something else that doesn't entirely click. It's perhaps a combination of things in the style; there are some spectacular visions put up from the Shanghai city-scapes and vistas of the deserts, but we only see them for so long before Winterbottom's editor cuts away, too rapidly; the music by Free Association beats down on scenes that could do better with quiet or a softer, less oppressive tone; the narration, again, is mostly filler.

Is it worth watching? Mostly if you're looking for a little twist in your science fiction cinema soup, or for some crazy derivative of 1984 that takes things much more into the realm of the sexual perverseness as opposed to merely political Big Brother issues (though there is, of course, some Big Brother in this landscape). It's the kind of work that should be even greater, or stir up the senses to the ideas, but just as it invites some thought it pulls away or moves to something else in its short running time. Only a bizarre cameo from Mick Jones in a bar singing a classic Clash song brings out a real shocker to the senses (that and maybe a moment of the graphic sexuality). 6.5/10

Oh my God! Someone make it stop! Spoilers!

[eched · 1/10 · 28 January 2005]

This film is just to odd and to perverted to like. It contains three sex scenes, all of which are not a turn on and one is very disturbing. Who ever thought this idea up has something really messed up going on in their head. The basic, very perverted and odd, plot has a man that ends up having a love affair with the genetic twin of his mom! The government, who of course want to put an end to this relationship, tries everything to pull the two apart, from wiping their minds to giving them a disease that makes them sick when they touch one another. So it's these two love birds up against the world and in the end I wanted the world to win. Also you can not feel any pathos for the hero of this film because he's cheating on his wife with his mom and he just doesn't seem to care. If you can live through this plot and the sex then you are still going to have to put up with the slow pace, which is really way to slow, and the crummy ending. I say, avoid at all costs.