Terry Gilliam’s latest work, The Zero Theorem, follows the trials of Qohen Leth (Christoph
Waltz), a number-cruncher living within a dystopian future. At the beginning of
the film, Leth is instructed by The Management (Matt Damon) to begin working on
the ‘Zero Theorem’, a mathematical certainty that the point of the universe
equals nothing. Struggling with his own belief that he is dying, and anxiously
awaiting a mysterious phone call, Leth descends into self-deprecation and
bizarre virtual reality worlds.
As one would expect from Gilliam, the visual level of the
film is sublime, the future landscape echoing the drab, over-layered look of Blade
Runner by way of a Lady Gaga video with a little Tim Burton thrown in. The
cinematography is all about following people and studying them; when it’s not
hot on the heels of Leth or other characters as they wander around the astounding
urban sprawl, it’s sat at someone’s desk, focusing on their face, reading their
every thought.
Considering this, it’s bizarre to find that the film is very
hard to get into, in terms of emotion. Waltz gives a brilliant performance and
the supporting characters are all good fun (particularly David Thewlis, who
seems to have been told to channel a Python-era Eric Idle and a wonderful but
brief performance by Tilda Swinton), but I just couldn’t find any way into
them, and in the end I put that down to the fact that the characters are always
talking about ‘the bigger picture’. And when the smaller, more personal and
emotional dialogue emerges, it’s all conveyed in scenes of boardy, Carry On-esque humour which – whilst raising
a few laughs – just feel out of place and further enhance the sense of un-engagement.
So whilst the film romps along at a great pace, introducing
new colourful characters and locales every few minutes which are all memorable
and all serve the story in their own way, so whilst the audience is left
feeling more of an observer, what they do observe is, like all of Gilliam’s
work, visually coherent and interesting. By the time it reaches the end, some
plot threads are left dangling but the finale is so visually astounding and
raises so many questions that it can be forgiven for it.
The Zero Theorem
may not be Terry Gilliam’s best work (Monty
Python and the Holy Grail still holds that spot) but even Gilliam failing
is a lot more interesting than a great deal of mainstream cinema and it’s
refreshing to see a director who won’t shy away from the weird and wonderful
side of film, whether it’d done successfully or not.
3 Stars
3 Stars
