The Zero Theorem (2014)
The Zero Theorem
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Written By Pat Rushin
Rated R
Terry Gilliam has never been a filmmaker that panders to others in order to find success. That’s what makes his body of work unique. He does what interests him and thus will show the audience magical and/or slightly deranged spectacles to either present his world view or just give the audience something off kilter and new. His refusal to compromise his vision (which is a pretty good trait for any artist worth their salt) and his reputation as a visionary makes whatever he releases an event. The Zero Theorem is no exception.
Qohen (pronounced Coen) Leth (Christoph Waltz) is a computer technician living in an abandoned church and he is facing an existential crisis. He eagerly awaits a phone call that will provide meaning and purpose to his life. But he can’t very well do that if he has to face the blinding sights and sounds of the outside world to go to the office every single day and his attempts to transfer his work to his home are thwarted. But his boss Joby (David Thewlis) tells him that management (Matt Damon) will allow him to go home and work on condition that he solves The Zero Theorem; an equation that will prove that all is for nothing. In exchange for the theorem’s completion, he will get his “call.” On top of trying to solve the theorem, other people such Bainsley (Melanie Thierry) and Bob (Lucas Hedges) enter his life and make this more complicated.
On the surface, this looks like another kind of dystopian tale in the vein of Brazil but it is a bit more personal than that. This is about having an identity in a technological and entertainment saturated society. Qohen is very self-centered and anxious. He is waiting for the phone call that will change his life but where does he get this idea? Why does he assume that a destiny will be handed to him? The minute he leaves his home he is bombarded with advertisements and media messages of all kinds promising various means of social acceptance (my favorite being the Church of Batman the Redeemer) and distractions from everyday life. He is not even free from it at his job as his boss invites him to parties and giving him advice on how to improve his life. This world of Qohens is surrounded by technology where everything is within grasp and most things seem to be provided for. This is a world, like ours, where everything is handed to us and we can all live in a kind comforting stupor. And he is still not happy. He senses that there is something out there for him but he goes about getting it completely the wrong way.
He makes the mistake that I see and hear of so many people doing in everyday life. They just sit and wait for something to happen without actually doing hard work to get a purpose. Sure Qohen is working on the Theorem but to expect a life changing phone call is silly. Everyone else seems to think so. Bainsley, for instance, starts to get really attached to Qohen and at one point asks if he can go away with her. Despite having fun with her and getting a connection of some sort, he turns it down because of fear. Fear of the unknown and not getting his call. Even the character Bob has trouble getting out of his comfort zone.
The interactions with Bainsley, Bob and Joby all to one degree or another present Qohen opportunities with personal advancement socially or even psychologically. But he is not wise enough to take advantage of them and try to look for his purpose. His job is to solve the Theorem and prove that all is for nothing. Zero must equal 100 percent. By sticking with the delusion that his destiny will just handed to him magically via a telephone call, he proved the Zero Theorem true or at least he proved it true for himself. By sitting around and waiting for a destiny, he lived a meaningless life.
That sounds sad doesn’t it? But sometimes the best lessons we learn from stories don’t always end happily. Gilliam isn’t so much critiquing technology and how we use it as much as he seems to be commenting that we shouldn’t be too complacent. If you want a good life, you have to really work for it. Yes, it takes effort but life will be mediocre if you do nothing. Qohen’s story is a sad one but yours does not have to be. This film, for me at least, is in a similar vein of Mamoru Oshii’s The Sky Crawlers where it presents a hopeless (or seemingly hopeless) situation to tell the audience to avoid the pitfalls and sad fates of what afflicts the characters.
This is a great example of a movie that I sadly am seeing less and less nowadays. This is a movie that I feel actually does have something meaningful to say but makes the smart move by not bashing the audience over the head with it. I have my own take on what the movie presents but I am certain that others will have their own interpretation on the story and in the end isn’t that what a lot of great movies do for audiences?
As is usual for Terry Gilliam, weirdness abounds and it is glorious. He delights in the strange be it in the characters or even in the environments. The future world that this film presents is an oddly tacky and colorful one but it is nonetheless disorienting as we are made to feel just as lost or even as annoyed with it as Qohen. From the off the wall costume and hair designs, the beautiful and occasionally intentional off kilter cinematography by Gilliam regular Nicola Pecorini, and even to the great looking visual effects Gilliam brings his A game to even the lowest budget productions.
Even the performances are uniformly great with David Thewlis, Melanie Thierry, Lucas Hedges and even Tilda Swinton (as Qohen’s kind of computer therapist) all giving convincing and memorable performances but of course Christoph Waltz is the highlight. With his character that almost always refers to himself as “we” and claims “we” are dying, his kind of allergy to being outside in the city, just being at work and even his insane lack of social skills, Waltz shows he can play odd as well as evil.
This one may not be as memorable as Terry Gilliam’s other works like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, co-directed with Terry Jones), Brazil (1985) or even 12 Monkeys (1995) but I will say that this one ranks as one of his most underrated along with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) or even Tideland (2005). I have loved all of Gilliam’s films (well, not The Brothers Grimm but to be fair he wasn’t happy with that one either) and this one sure didn’t disappoint. But as with nearly all of his work, this film is not for everybody but if anyone out there is a major Terry Gilliam fan, as I am, this is not one to miss.
I now can’t wait to see The Man who Killed Don Quixote.
