USA | 2009 | Directed by Sophie Barthes
Logline: After a neurotic actor discovers an unorthodox solution to his mid-life crisis he becomes embroiled in a bizarre existential predicament.
The premise alone of this debut feature was enough to pique my egocentric interest big-time. New Yorker Sophie Barthes has fashioned a deliciously black comedy streaked with the kind of existential angst and metaphysical self-discovery that would give Charlie Kaufman a hard-on, if you’ll pardon my vulgarity.
In fact there are many similarities to the movies penned by Kaufman, (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synechdoche, New York), no doubt Barthes was heavily influenced, but still manages to create a unique and inspired story. Being John Malkovich deals with the psyche of an actor, with the eponymous actor in a cameo, whilst in Cold Souls Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, an actor struggling with the best way to portray the particularly difficult eponymous role in the Russian play Uncle Vanya.
Eternal Sunshine is about memory, identity and love, while Cold Souls deals with identity (but on a more unconscious level), other people’s residual, fragmented memories, and the love, or more specifically the acceptance of self. Synechdoche, New York is about everything, but in particular the resignation of the fragility of the human condition, which Cold Souls also tackles.
Perhaps Sophie Barthes is Charlie Kaufman’s female inversion? In any case, she has a keen ear for wry, astute, and poignant dialogue, and a great eye too; the visual narrative is striking. The juxtaposed locations of New York City and St. Petersberg are strangely similar, both trapped in the icy cold tendrils of winter, a metaphor for the science fiction concept of the soul storage process.
This is a dark and curious movie though despite the obvious humour of its lead character, which is actually a real person (although surely Giamatti is playing up a little). Nina (Dina Korzun) is employed to transport Russian souls to America for top dollar. She steals Giamatti’s soul because her demanding boss wants a Yankee actor’s soul for his petulant model-cum-actor girlfriend Sveta (Katheryn Winnick). Nina portrays a more unsettling side to the story. As a “mule” she is subject to the accumulation of fragmented residuals of other people’s souls, apparently very dangerous to the wellbeing of the mind.
Emily Watson plays Giamatti’s confused wife Claire who is astounded when Giamatti admits to her that he de-souled himself, and now they’ve misplaced it; “It’s a total nightmare!” he says in exasperation. Indeed it would be. Adding insult to injury, that missing soul looks like a chickpea (each soul once removed takes on the appearance of something earthly tangible). The always-reliable David Strathairn plays Dr. Flinstein, the soul storage company head, while Lauren Ambrose plays his enthusiastic assistant, Stephanie.
Cold Souls balances the precarious edge of morose comedy and soulful enlightenment; a superb achievement for a first feature, and a brilliant modern fable for these troubled, spiritually bereft times.