Starring: Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Matt Damon, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in May 2014
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After his introduction to British comedy in the form of the Monty Python show, and his contributions of animation to the television series as well as to the Python films, he branched out into direction with Jabberwocky. He began in the 1980s with the very entertaining Time Bandits and the exploration of tedious ordinariness, Brazil. Since then he has been making comparatively few films, but always interesting and arresting for those who been following his career.
His latest film is The Zero Theorem. And, as with some of his other films, audiences will be divided into loyal followers and the baffled who give up.
Fans of Brazil will see a number of connections with this film, the individual who is and is not part of society, working diligently – to what purpose? Here he is Qohen, living and working alone in what seems to be an empty and dilapidated church, with religious symbols and icons of including a crucifix with its head missing and substituted by a surveillance camera. He works at his computer, always answering the phone in the hopes of this being the call which will change his life. He talks to himself and to others, referring to himself as We rather than I.
When he goes out to work, he finds a bizarre city, vehicles recognisable, people in a hurry, but a world surrounded by billboards, huge hoardings, commercials which are spoken out loud, inviting customers to spend – and with the heading “enough is never enough”. Qohen goes to work where he is supervised by Joby (David Thewliss) and asks if he can work at home for his health and better productivity. He goes to see Management, Matt Damon in oddly patterned suits, who agrees. And then he spends a whole year in his hideaway, never going out.
But that does not mean he does not communicate. Those concerned about his mental health have arranged that an Online Shrink will give him advice – played by Tilda Swinton with a Scots accent. He is also caught up, virtually, with a beautiful young woman that he saw at the company party and who helped him when he was choking on a seed. She takes him away to a fantasy world, a tropical beach where he becomes more human, attracted to her, and being rescued when he sinks to the bottom of the water. Gilliam has given her the name Bainsley, odd for a character played by the French actress, Melanie Thierry. Does she really exist or, as she often appears provocatively on his computer screen, only virtual?
Qohen has a task, to investigate the Zero Theorem, dealing with the energy created at the beginning of the universe and is gradually contracting and being consumed in a black hole. He does not know exactly why he is researching this. But it gives the film time to explore some of the questions on the universe, personality, personal identity, ultimate meaning.
The other person who ventures into Qohen’s world is a teenager called Bob (Lucas Hedges), the son of Management. He is a whizzkid with computers, talks in a way that Qohen doesn’t quite always understand, listens to music that is alien to him. Bob tells Qohen that Qohen is either the chosen one, a genius, or else he is just a workaholic. The two work together, explore, have contact with Bainsley and an angry Joby who has been put out of his job because of Qohen.
As the film builds to a climax, there is tension because of an accident to Bob and the arrival of his father – who is either real or simply an image and voice on a computer. What is there left for Qohen except to retreat into the virtual world, a kind of heaven, life after death, that is the fulfilment of his imagination?
For the Gilliam enthusiasts, worth a second look.
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