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eXistenZ is a 1999 psychological thriller/science fiction film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law.
PlotSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the greatest game designer in the world and testing her latest virtual reality game, eXistenZ, with a focus group in what appears to be a church. To play the game, you must plug the 'pod', the organic future version of a gaming console, into a 'bio-port' near the bottom of your spine. As they begin, she is attacked by a fanatic assassin armed with a bizarre organic gun which is undetectable by security. Fearing other assassins, she flees with public relations trainee, Ted Pikul (Jude Law), who is suddenly assigned as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, her pod, containing the only copy of the eXistenZ game, is damaged in the assassination attempt. To inspect it, she talks a reluctant Pikul into accepting a bio-port in his own body so he can play the game with her. The events leading up to this, and the resulting game lead the pair on a strange adventure where it becomes impossible to tell if their actions are their own, or the will of the game, and impossible to tell if they are in the game, or in the real world. Cast
ReceptionAwards1999
Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
2000
InterpretationThe story is based on the confusion between reality and virtual reality as the characters move in and out of a quasi-organic role-playing computer game called eXistenZ, the aim of which is unknown. The players are linked to the virtual world of the game by a console that resembles a living lump of animal tissue which is connected to the player's nervous system through a 'bio-port' drilled in the player's lower back; however, near the end of the film the gamers seem to be connected to the virtual world by electronic devices connected to their heads and wrists. The ending, immediately following that switch into what appears to be a real world in which gamers were merely playing virtual reality, with electronic devices on their hands and wrists, leaves open the question of how many layers of virtual reality are still left between characters and the real world. The virtual world of the game features many aspects of traditional video games, particularly graphical adventure games of the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of these are explicit, such as the repetitive "loops" of actions that minor characters perform, or the need to provide certain trigger phrases to make progress possible. There are many other references that are more subtle, for example the sparsely populated nature of the game world and the physical proximity of certain locations for no sensible reason (e.g., a Chinese restaurant next to a fish processing factory in thick forest). Another trait repeatedly used is the tendency of characters within the game to perform certain actions to quickly establish their personality which, presented in a more real world, would be nonsensical, such as the soldier firing a weapon, apparently randomly, in the middle of a conversation. Clothing in the film is primarily blank colours without patterns, as with games of the time. There is a tension throughout the film between what appear to be rival game companies (Antenna Research and Cortical Systematics) that want to gain the services of a famous game designer, or kill the game designer if they cannot gain cooperation, while a third party known as the Realist Underground tries to subvert both game companies. The plot involves existentialist themes, similar to The Matrix. Both films were released in the same year, but The Matrix received far more attention. Philosophical issuesThe film calls into question the nature of reality and how to discern between reality and illusion. It also raises ethical issues surrounding the distortion of reality and how it might equate to psychosis for those who become psychologically absorbed into their virtual roles as characters within a game. The film portrays the emotional reasons for the popularity of video games, and explores the theoretical issues of self-reflexivity and absorption of a game player for the sake of entertainment. Playing the game is compared to psychosis, following implanted "game urge" to advance the plot: a meek marketing trainee acts increasingly like a macho sociopath, while the game's designer becomes narcissistic and grandiose. Free will is also discussed; several times the characters are compelled by "game urges" to commit acts in order to advance the game. When Pikul asks Geller if there is any free will in the program, she replies that, as in real life, there's "just enough to make it interesting". Other films that depict similar existential problems that emerge from virtual reality are Abre Los Ojos, The Lawnmower Man, The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Total Recall, TRON, The Truman Show, Vanilla Sky, Avalon and Cronenberg's own earlier Videodrome and Naked Lunch. The film also mirrors parts of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". The same themes are often explored in many stories by Philip K Dick. Trivia
NovelizationsChristopher Priest wrote the tie-in novel to accompany the movie eXistenZ, the theme of which has much in common with some of Priest's own novels. He uses the pseudonyms John Luther Novak and Colin Wedgelock, usually for his movie novelizations. See also
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