Code 46

• Tim Robbins: William Cash
• Samantha Morton: Maria Gonzalez
• Togo Igawa: Driver
• Nabil Elouhabi: Seller
• Om Puri: Bahkland
• Jeanne Balibar, Sylvie
• Nina Wadia: receptionist at the clinic
• David Fahm: Damian

Code 46 is a British science fiction film from 2003 directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film is a dystopian love story, which shows possible impact of biotechnology.

Action

In the near future the Earth is overpopulated and ecologically devastated. The population is divided into those who live "inside", in densely populated cities, physically isolated from the "outside " where the poor live. Access to and travel between the cities are severely restricted and regulated by Visa. ( In the film, they are called " papeles " - in Spanish: " Papers " - a word from the global pidgin lingua franca, which contains elements from English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Farsi and Mandarin. ) Go The inhabitants of the cities only outside at night and during the day remain in buildings, because the sunlight endangers their health, presumably because of the destroyed ozone layer. The form of government seems to be authoritarian, and the company is regulated by different codes. The mentioned in the title Code prohibits "genetically incestuous reproduction ", which has increased due to widespread technologies such as cloning.

The main character is William money from Seattle who pursues cases of insurance fraud. He is sent to Shanghai to " The Sphinx", the documents for insurance coverage makes in the company to investigate employees. William is to find out whether and which employees fake and smuggled documents.

Using a genetically engineered " empathy virus " William can not get called information from people if they voluntarily reveal something about themselves. After he has interviewed many employees of the "Sphinx " he identified a young worker named Maria Gonzalez as the forger of documents. Mary tells William that she has the same dream at each of their birthdays: She runs the subway to meet someone, but do not know whom. At each birthday, she is closer to take a station at their destination, where they expected the person after they investigated. William is captivated by her, and instead to report to the security, he called another employee as the forger. William follows Maria, they have dinner and go to a nightclub. Mary trusted the man who could arrest them, and reveals how they could smuggle the documents from the company. A man named Damian occurs and gets a document from Mary. He is a scientist who wants to travel to Delhi to study bats. William complained that Damian gets the document. He hints that he might show Mary, but she trusts instinctively that William will not do that. He explains that there are valid reasons why Damian the document can not get legal. But Mary believes that it is worthwhile to take risks in order to make true their own dreams, and no one had a right to intervene if those who they help, are willing to take the risks.

William and Mary go to her apartment, where they spend a night of passion. There, Maria William shows her " memory book " (an e- book which apparently converts memories of the user in videos), which contains memories of her parents and close friends. Other videos show how it passes on documents to other people. Maria says she likes these people beautiful; her eyes were full of desire and dreams and she wants to help them. When Mary sleeps, William finds a forged document in her room, which he takes. Williams visa runs out the next day, so he returns to his family. On the way to the airport he gives the forged document to a poor street vendor, an act of humanity that could change the lives of the dealer. A few days later he learns that Damian died in Delhi - by a virus, against which he had no immunity. His superiors blames William, because he has the true forgers not found in "Sphinx". William claims that he did not get along with the empathy virus, and thinks someone else should go. But he has to go back to Shanghai and finish the task.

Back in Shanghai discovered William that Mary is gone. Your house is abandoned, and the only clue is a date, she has agreed to a clinic. He goes to the hospital and finds out that Mary was pregnant, but that the pregnancy due to violation of code 46 has been ended. William now know that Mary must be related to him, but has no idea how that is possible. Meanwhile, the authorities have responded to the violation of code 46 and Mary's memory of the man who got her pregnant she deleted. Because William has not betrayed her, they have done nothing else. William discovers that Maria was brought for memory extinction in another institution and goes there to rescue them. This he creates by claiming that she was a witness for his examination. After she is released, William reminds them of their time together, which is also in the memory book, and their love feelings for him to return. When she sleeps, William takes (similar to Gattaca ) a hair of Mary, from whom he can do a DNA analysis. He finds out that Maria is 50% genetically identical to it - it is a clone of his mother, who was a test tube baby. This knowledge influenced Williams feelings, but he does not tell Maria the information.

The two travel to Jebel Ali in the Middle East, what they do not need a visa. They hide in the old town, where they rent a room. William discovered that not only Mary's memory was erased, but they also got a virus that causes a strong adrenaline rush when it comes to physical contact with the person who was injured along with the code 46. Nevertheless, Maria would once again sleeping with William, so they can tie him to prevent hitting or hurting him.

Then Maria falls in a somnambulistic state ( also by the virus caused ) which forces them to re-injury of Code 46 to report to the authorities. It does so unconsciously, while William knows about the virus. They rent an old car and drive away to escape the authorities. Finally, there is a car accident, and both are unconscious. When William wakes up, he's back in Seattle with his wife and child. He has no memory of Mary, or the breach of Code 46 - all of his memories of them and their time together has been deleted. The authorities had brought William in court, but decided that the empathy virus has affected his judgment. He tries to use the empathy virus, to read the thoughts of his son when he moves back from the hospital, but without success. Maria has been punished more severely - she is exiled to the desolate land "outside" sent. However, she has retained her memories of William, and their metro dream completes itself; the person who she meets on the last stop, William is.

Code 46

Article 1 states that people who are related to 100 %, 50 % or 25 % with each other may not have children together. If it still comes to a pregnancy, they must be stopped. If the relationship was not known, medical intervention can be done to prevent further violations of code 46. When it was known, there is a crime.

Trivia

• In the scene in the karaoke club sings Mick Jones of The Clash 's song Should I Stay or Should I Go?.
• 46 is (probably not coincidentally ) the number of chromosomes ( 23 pairs ) in the human DNA.

Reviews

Lexicon of international film: "The film omitted genre usual effects, but rather used the urban design of the modern metropolis as a background of an orbiting around identity and personal freedom science fiction story. He designs the terrifying vision of a controlled and hermetic world, which is just a short span of the presence in its extremes and conveys an atmosphere of existential anxiety. Formally of cool, unemotionaler consequence. "

Awards (selection)

• Director Winterbottom was nominated in 2003 for a Golden Lion.
• Joakim Sundström was nominated in 2005 for Best Sound for a Golden Satellite Award.