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Join Telegram ChannelAndrew Niccol's sci-fi film starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law will soon celebrate its 25th anniversary.
In the future, Vincent Freeman was conceived in a completely ordinary way, but he was born with a few imperfections that, in a world subject to merciless genetic selection, block his future prospects. Nevertheless, this ambitious young man dreams of participating in a space mission. To do this, he must enter Gattaca, the training base for future astronauts. One day, Vincent meets Jerome, a former athlete who was himself a candidate for space and whose hopes were ruined by a serious accident. The two men become friends. Vincent takes on Jerome's identity and appearance and enters Gattaca…
Welcome to Gattaca will be broadcast this Sunday evening on Arte, at 9 p.m., followed by the documentary Uma Thurman: The Emancipation of a Warrior. Andrew Niccol's film quickly became a sure bet in science fiction cinema, before its author repeated the feat by writing another memorable work, The Truman Show (directed by Peter Weir), as well as, to a lesser extent, Lord of Warwhich he wrote and directed in 2005.
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Welcome to Gattacait is not only the film that allowed the meeting of Uma Thurman And Ethan Hawke (and thus the birth of Maya Hawke, who is a hit today thanks to Stranger Things). It is above all a successful, well thought out and ambitious first achievement,Andrew Niccola New Zealander from the advertising world. Both in the script and in the direction, he signs a brilliant and noted reflection on eugenics through a future biopunk where parents can choose the sex of their own children and where each child's social position is determined by their genetic heritage.
This thriller borrows from the codes of film noir, but is also inspired by scientific research on DNA. Moreover, Gattaca is not a name that comes from chance: the four letters that form this name, G, A, T and C, are a reference to the four bases, components of DNA (guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine). All of this is sprinkled with thriller elements and a zest of human drama, and above all carried by convincing actors (Hawke and Thurman, therefore, but also Jude LawAlan Arkin, Tony Shalhoub, Maya Rudolph… even the very small roles are memorable!), First had been convinced by this first masterstroke, upon its release.
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While admitting to not being a big fan of Ethan Hawke, Christophe Carrière wrote in our magazine that he was “finally bearable” in this movie “surrounded by authentic suspense. Welcome to Gattaca is an atmospheric film. Devoid of the spectacular special effects inherent in a genre prone to overbidding, it has a quiet passion. (…) It is not a film with a message. It is an enlightened observation of a future that has been predicted to be dark since the appearance of Dolly the sheep. An anticipation as fine as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. (…) Not content with knowing what he is talking about, Niccol also knows how to film: in Scope and without any smudges, except those at the box office.“
Because despite all its qualities, and the praise received in the press, Welcome to Gattaca was a flop when it was released, grossing only a third of its initial budget of $36 million (the film still reached 500,000 admissions in France). Its beautiful story ended at the gates of the Oscars and the Golden Globes, where it was nominated for the statuette for best artistic direction (for the former) and best music (for the latter). Over time, spectators were able to rediscover the thematic and visual density of a work that has now taken on the aura of a cult film. A must-see tonight, then.
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