In this engaging science fiction story set in the future, global warming has taken its toll on the planet. Cities have become safety zones, heavily secured with entrance possible only through checkpoints. People do not go out much in the day and work at night. Those unfortunates who do not have papelles (a combination passport, visa, and insurance policy) are not allowed into the urban preserves; they live in desolate poverty stricken areas where exposure to the sun is toxic.
William (Tim Robbins) is an insurance investigator who lives with his wife and child in Seattle. He is sent to Shanghai to find out who at the Sphinx insurance agency is creating and distributing fake papelles. During his investigation, he uses an "empathy virus" to discern who the rule-breaker is. It turns out that Maria (Samantha Morton) is the culprit. But since William is attracted to her, he names another person.
These two individuals who seem destined to be with each other meet at a bar where Maria introduces William to Damian (David Fahm), a naturalist whose dreams of studying bats in Dehli can now come true thanks to the papelles provided by Maria. She reveals how she smuggles out these documents. That evening Maria and William make love, but when his 24-hour papelle expires, he has to return home. Later, he returns to Shanghai following Damian's death in Asia and tries to locate Maria. What he learns shocks him to the core and compels him to make a decision that will determine the future course of his life.
Michael Winterbottom is one of our favorite directors; he's a creative artist who takes risks with his work (Jude, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Claim, Wonderland, and In This World) and is always looking for new frontiers. Although Code 46 lacks the dramatic vitality of many of his previous films, there is an edge to the intriguing screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce about global warming, the gap between the rich and the poor, cloning, and genetic testing. The last themes are covered in the closing sequences of the film, and we have left them out of our plot summary so you can savor the complexities.
