Winterbottom's Code 46 is a Fascinating Film Dealing with Love and Relationships

Code 46 is a fascinating film that deals with love and relationships.  The genre is science fiction, but it’s not about aliens and ray guns.  Instead, the film, part love story, part thriller, does what many great works of science fiction do: it uses the illusion of the future to tell stories that are applicable to us in the present.

Sometime in the future, cities become overcrowded, and security checkpoints are used for passage. To get through the checkpoints, people need “papelles,” a combination of visa, passport and insurance. 

William is an insurance investigator from Seattle who is sent to Shanghai, China to investigate counterfeit “papelles” that appear to be coming form the Sphinx Insurance agency.  He has taken an empathy virus to assist in his work.  The virus allows him to get information from people when they refuse to answer his questions.  When he questions Maria, he suspects her, but is attracted to her, so he turns in another employee.

William and Maria go after work to celebrate her birthday.  She trusts William and sells fake “papelles” in front of him to her friend Damian.  They go back to her apartment and make love.  He returns home to his wife and family the next day.

William can’t stop thinking about Maria, but he is unable to contact her.  His work informs him that someone using fake “papelles” from Sphinx has died in Asia, so he must go back to Shanghai and reopen the investigation.  It turns out the user was Damian.  He uses the opportunity to search for Maria.  He finds her at an out-of-town clinic where her pregnancy has been terminated due to a Code 46 violation.  Her memories associated with the pregnancy have been erased, which means she doesn’t know who William is.  He has twenty-four hours to learn what is going on before his “papelles” expire.