(Canada/France, 108 min.)
Written and directed by David Cronenberg
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Paul Giamatti, Juliette
Binoche, Emily Hampshire, Kevin Durand, Samantha Morton, Jay Baruchel.
“A rat became the unit of currency.”
-Zbigniew Herbert.
David Cronenberg smells a rat. Its name is Capitalism. The
rat, as the epitaph that opens both the novel and film adaptation of Cosmopolis suggests, is the new unit of
currency. Capitalism, aka the rat, thrives on currency, on trade, and commerce. It
also breeds rats. It’s a self-fueling machine; however, as rats proved as the
unit of trade during the Black Death, all such currency has an inevitable downturn.
So, too, does Capitalism. As Cronenberg suggests in beautifully cerebral film Cosmopolis, Capitalism is the vile rat of the new millennium and
its day has come.
Capitalism lives and breathes in Eric Packer, the
twenty-eight year-old multi-billionaire financial tycoon played by Robert
Pattinson. The epitome of Big Business, Eric spends the duration of Cosmopolis on a fateful ride in his
massive stretch limo through the streets of New York, or rather Toronto
transformed into the Big Apple via license plates and green screens – it’s a
Cronenberg film, after all. Eric wants a haircut, but as his
bodyguard/chaperone Torval (Kevin Durand, Edwin Boyd) informs him, today isn’t really a good day to drive across town for a
simple haircut, for The President is in town and thus the streets will be a
gridlock of chaos.
Persistent in his wants and desires, though, Eric insists on
the haircut. The haircut is a curious motivator for the protagonist drone of Cosmopolis. Eric is impeccably suited
and coiffed when he starts his day and makes the blunt declaration that he
wants a haircut: Eric simply has no need to visit the barber. His hair is
already short and styled in a Don Draper-ly look for the new millennium. Eric’s
haircut is perhaps a symptom of his capitalist urges. As a man who has
everything and needs little, Eric can simply afford to waste such an important
day on such a frivolous endeavour. To underscore Eric’s empty existence,
Cronenberg repeatedly offers a glimpse of the head of Packer Capital as he sits
alone in his cavernous limo en route to get his haircut. The limo is also well insulated with cork to
block out the intrusion of life on the streets.
Eric’s day is not completely wasted on his ’do, though,
since a roster of his minions is summoned to the travelling office, which is equipped
with a minibar, new age computers, and a toilet. Eric’s ride across New York City consists of
various episodes in which he deals with his security adviser, Shiner (Jay
Baruchel); his mistress, Didi (Juliette Binoche); his financial advisor, Jane
(Emily Hampshire); and his doctor who administers a rectal examine and
ominously informs Eric that his prostate is asymmetrical. During all these
conversations, Eric and company make heavy conversation and debate the future.
Of particular concern to Eric is the potential downfall of his company that
rests on the Chinese Yuan. The Yuan is the unknown variable that threatens
Eric’s demise. The Yuan is also one of the few changes that Cronenberg makes in
his adaptation of the novel by Don DeLillo: in the book, Eric’s financial
collapse rests on the Yen, but the switch to China as the mysterious factor
gives Cosmopolis an added resonance
since the secretive country enjoys a similar peculiarity in today’s global
economy.
Eric’s conversations are all densely scripted theses on
contemporary dynamics of exchange, trade, and culture. They all have a dry air
of indifference, with all of the cast members exchanging thoughts in an
apathetic recital of facts and figures. Especially good is the conversation
between Eric and his chief theorist Vija Kinsky, played by Samantha Morton, who
delivers the big ideas of the film in a lengthy impassioned drone of
existential waffle. The downfall of the company almost feels erotic when
explained by Morton’s scholastic soothsayer.
Cosmopolis also
has an ongoing sense of impending doom with the repeated threats made against
Eric’s life. Torval frequently intrudes Eric’s privacy to inform him of some
level of threat. The ride is also interrupted by raging anarchists,
anti-capitalist protestors, and one well-aimed lemon meringue pie.
There is, however, a bit of hope that arises during the many
stops that Eric makes en route to the barber. Eric’s trip enjoys a surprising
number of intersections with his wife, Elise (nicely played by Canadian actress Sarah
Gadon who reteams with Cronenberg after A Dangerous Method). Like Eric, Elise is extravagantly wealthy; however,
unlike Eric, she inherited the money and thus has not become corrupted by
pursuing a life that generates wealth for its own sake. Although Elise also
talks like a lobotomized lab rat, she fills herself with passion for the arts.
An avid poet, Elise frequents bookstores and plays. She also shows an
appreciation for the finer things during her encounters with Eric. For example,
she wants duck consommé for lunch, but she can’t bring herself to eat it, whereas Eric
hungrily devours four meals during the day. He also pursues Elise for sex
without end.
It is the omission of the consummation between husband and
wife where Cronenberg makes his most radical change – and improvement – to
DeLillo’s novel. The book Cosmopolis
winds down with Eric finding some hope for the future or, at the very least,
making a symbolic act of atonement to wipe clean his carnivorous destruction of
others. The film, however, is darker and more cynical, and it culminates with Eric going to meet his maker, the
volatile Benno Levin (played in an exhilaratingly madcap performance by Paul
Giamatti) who shares Eric’s deadly obsession with the game of finance. (In this
case the Baht.) Eric’s confrontation with Benno is a great tour-de-force for Pattinson and Giamatti in which Eric must finally face up to the consequences of capitalism.
Pattinson makes an impressive career move as the laconic Eric Packer. Even though the steely tycoon speaks in the expressionless monotone of Edward Cullen, Pattinson gives the character a sense of removal that makes the whole film work. Cosmopolis might be Cronenberg’s most dialogue-heavy film yet, but Pattinson’s dry delivery of the emotionally vacant script brings the film to life. As played by Pattinson, Eric Packer is a hollow empty shell of a man with which to serve a healthy dose of Cronenbergian allegory. It’s often said that casting is 90% of directing, and Cronenberg certainly lands an A with this pleasant surprise.
As with every Cronenberg film or any film that demands
attention and contemplation, Cosmopolis is
of the ‘love it or hate it’ variety. Marking his first time as both writer and director
since 1999’s eXistenZ, Cronenberg is
back in the realm of cyber-psycho-sexual mind games in which he produces his
best work. Cronenberg again works with some of his frequent collaborators
including cinematographer Peter Suschitzky who gives a slick and intriguingly distorted
portrait of the new millennium. Cosmopolis
also features strong work by regular Cronenberg teammate Howard Shore who
provides the music along with Metric and drives the film in a series of electro-pop
crescendos à la Run Lola Run. Cosmopolis is best, though, as a piece
of Cronenberg adaptation. Cosmopolis
offers a strong vehicle for the director’s existential contemplation. The
result is a dark and damning portrait of capitalism on its all-consuming ride
to nowhere.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Cosmopolis is currently playing in wide release in Canada.
It opens in Ottawa July 6 at The Bytowne
All photos by Caitlin Cronenberg, courtesy eOne films.