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VENICE 2013 Competition

The Zero Theorem: Future Reloaded

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- Christoph Waltz has to demonstrate the meaning of life in Terry Gilliam’s last folly, in competition in Venice...

The Zero Theorem: Future Reloaded

The tagline of the 70th edition of the Venice Mostra (Future Reloaded) is just as relevant to the latest creation of Terry Gilliam, who delivered a first personal vision of the future in 1984 withBrazil. Nearly three decades later, the British director is in competition in Venice with The Zero Theorem [+see also:
trailer
interview: Terry Gilliam
film profile
]
, an updating of sorts of his futuristic prophecy, edited with one of most modest budgets of his career and filmed in Great Britain and Romania. 

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Qohen Leth (Christoph Waltz) is a computer genius who lives as a recluse in a ruined chapel in the heart of London. The man refuses to leave his house because he is expecting an enigmatic phone call, which is supposed to change his existence. Management (Matt Damon), his strange boss, entrusts him with resolving an existential theorem of the utmost importance. His only distraction in this task is played by Bainsley (Melanie Thierry) with whom the beginning of a virtual relationship emerges...

Gilliam returns to the paths of anticipation films, which he knows well for having taken them before (Brazil, 12 Monkeys…). However, The Zero Theorem is far from being a revolution for the genre. With its old-fashioned charm, the film resembles a compilation of elements borrowed from other places and we are surprised by the director’s intention of “making a film which would be different from all that we have seen before.” For fans of the genre, it is difficult to get rid of the many déjà vu impressions. The mathematical equation as an existential metaphor (π by Darren Aronofsky), young people dancing in nightclubs listening to their iPods (The 6th Day by Roger Spottiswoode), the beach as a metaphor for a virtual refuge (Dark City by Alex Proyas) and the whore with a big heart, now a cinematographic archetype, are only but a few examples amongst others that make us think that Gilliam was revisiting the past when he was supposed to takes us into the future. Another anachronistic feature: the “futuristic” vehicles are a placement of an electric car by a French brand, which can be seen on our roads today.

As often with Gilliam, the messy side of the screenplay is not particularly disturbing, in that it corresponds to the psychology of the main character and the decadent frenzy of the portrayed society. Also as usual, the director insured the presence of talented actors in the lead (Waltz ) to give life to a slightly noisy and unhinged machine, made smooth by equally prestigious guests (Matt Damon and his trompe l’œil costumes, Tilda Swinton as a software psychiatrist). While this futuristic variation of En attendant Godot is not a major work in the filmography of the director of Monty Python, it remains generally distracting for a lay audience and sometimes pertinent for science fiction fans and the director’s followers.

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(Translated from French)

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