User reviews

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

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

This was an interesting one. It was extremely clever and had touches of brilliance. There is obviously some amazing imagination behind it but I do have to say that this isn't a movie you should sit down and watch when you are tired or not giving it your full attention. I found I had to concentrate hard to untangle the confusion in my head and not get lost. I think what caused the confusion was the fact that there were a lot of side things going on and many of them were not explored in enough depth or explained in any comprehensible way and therefore not clear enough to understand easily. It's good when a movie makes you think but sometimes it can go too far. I do think, however that the movie would benefit greatly from a second viewing and that things would make more sense the second time around and so I am likely to watch it again as it had some amazing ideas.

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

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.

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.

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 *****

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.