eXistenZ (1999)

Réalisateur:

David Cronenberg

Scénariste:

David Cronenberg (written by)

Release Date:

23 avril 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drame | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Accroche:

Play it. Live it. Kill for it.

Plot:

Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as a game designer who creates a virtual-reality game that taps into the players' minds.

Plot Keywords:

Irish Wolfhound | Chinese Restaurant | Bizarre | Death | Shot In The Head

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

Truly unique

Ensemble

Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Allegra Geller
Jude Law	...	Ted Pikul
Ian Holm	...	Kiri Vinokur
Willem Dafoe	...	Gas
Don McKellar	...	Yevgeny Nourish
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Hugo Carlaw
Christopher Eccleston	...	Seminar Leader
Sarah Polley	...	Merle
Robert A. Silverman	...	D'Arcy Nader
Oscar Hsu	...	Chinese Waiter
Kris Lemche	...	Noel Dichter
Vik Sahay	...	Male Assistant
Kirsten Johnson	...	Female Assistant
James Kirchner	...	Landry
Balázs Koós	...	Male Volunteer

Autre(s) titre(s) :

Crimes of the Future (Canada: English title) (working title)
eXistenZ (France) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence and gore, and for language.

Durée:

97 min

Pays:

Canada | UK

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Son:

Dolby Digital

Classification:

Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KNT | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Rockwood Conservation Area, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Alliance Atlantis Communications

Anecdotes:

When Kiri and his assistant operate on Allegra's pod, Kiri says, "Köszönöm, köszönöm, köszönöm," Hungarian for "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Goofs:

Continuity: The first time we see Ted Pikul at the trout farm, he labels an envelope with the letters LA. The L is clearly connected to the A. However in the next shot with the envelope on the conveyor belt the L and A are no longer connected.

Guillemet:

Ted: It hurts. I think it's infected.
Allegra: No, it's not infected. It's just excited. It wants action.
Ted: But I really don't think I want action! Me, I mean. The bearer of the excited bio-port.

Connexions De Film:

Referenced in Game Box 1.0 (2004)

Truly unique

Everybody seems to compare this to The Matrix and The 13th Floor, and when I first saw it I would have agreed -- I was expecting The Matrix and was a little disappointed. But upon repeated viewings my respect for this movie has grown immensely.

The thing to keep in mind is that The Matrix is a great action movie with some philosophical mumbo-jumbo thrown in. The 13th Floor is a passable action movie with some slightly more interesting philosophical mumbo-jumbo thrown in. Existenz is not an action movie at all, and is not (as many seem to believe) about "reality" or any such "deep" concept. It's about the human tendency to intentionally replace reality with an artificial (both in its origin and in its behavior) world of make-believe.

The most chilling moment in the movie is when Allegra Geller repeats her "scripted" line. It's at that point you realize that the people in the game have voluntarily surrendered their free will in order to participate in a story. This is made even more frightening at the end when D'Arcy Nader (or rather his player) comments on the possibility of spending one's life in the game. I sympathize completely with the "realist" philosophy, that providing interesting worlds in which people simply locate the correct predefined path to the end goal is ultimately a recipe for a soulless existence. Living "in the game" is not living at all, but is a tempting way to spend one's time on earth. As Allegra comments about the real world, "there's nothing going on here." Might as well jack into someone else's imagination, and pretend to be doing something interesting. (Although I have to ask whether Cronenberg considers this a self-indictment, considering that he himself offers up worlds to be experienced in 90 minute snippets.)

Upon leaving the theater after first watching this movie, I thought it was one of those movies that was watchable only to see how it ended. But having seen it a couple more times (thank you SciFi Channel) I've realized how much deeper it goes. Seriously, if you've only seen it once, it deserves another viewing.