GATTACA (1997) 26/11/05. Reviewed by Michael Clark Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law star in Andrew Niccol's futuristic story of in-valids and de-gene-erates, where only genetically perfect specimens are chosen for the exploration and conquest of space.

"Consider God's handiwork; who can straighten what He hath made crooked?", asks the first of two quotations which precede the opening titles of 'Gattaca'. For the writer of Ecclesiastes, the question was strictly rhetorical, but in the brave new world of Gattaca, where personal identity has been reduced to the differential sequence of a few DNA base pairs, and genetic screening and embryo selection/embryo screening, preimplantation diagnosis and in vitro fertilisation have replaced divine will as arbiters of human destiny, the correction, or rather prevention, of genetic imperfections has become routine, and genetic rather than moral excellence the measure of human worth.

Film credits

• Jersey Films for Columbia Pictures, 1997; 100 mins
• Written and directed by Andrew Niccol
• Produced by Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher

Principal cast

• Vincent Freeman (aka Jerome Morrow): Ethan Hawke
• Jerome Eugene Morrow: Jude Law
• Irene: Uma Thurman
• Anton (police inspector, Vincent's brother): Loren Dean
• Hugo (second police inspector): Alan Arkin
• Director Josef: Gore Vidal

As its title suggests, 'Gattaca' is set in a 'not-too-distant' future genetic (or rather, neo-eugenic) dystopia, in which society is entirely based on scientifically measured genetic worth and the pre-selection of genetically perfect (or enhanced) embryos. It is also the name of a space station, where the cosmonaut corps d'élite consists only of the physically and mentally finest specimens of humanity, until Vincent (Ethan Hawke), a young man with a whole raft of physical imperfections including myopia and cardiac arrhythmias, decides to cheat the system and pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut by swapping genetic identities with Jerome (Jude Law), a former Olympic swimmer crippled by a road accident.

As the film shows, Vincent, an 'in-valid' or 'de-gene-erate', in Gattacan terminology, is quite literally prepared to go to almost any lengths to make his new physical identity appear convincing, and to guard the secret of his deception long enough to reach escape velocity on a prestigious space mission to Titan. But is he also guilty of the brutal murder of the mission controller? – and can he maintain his false identity when his brother Anton arrives to direct the police investigation and his girlfriend Irene (Uma Thurman) begins to guess the truth?

"Welcome to Gattaca", says Ernest Borgnine, who has a cameo role in the film, but while 'Gattaca' has been compared to Monty Python's idea of heaven, in which everyone looks smart and wears a tie, by no stretch of the imagination can it be described as a very welcoming kind of place or, indeed, society. From the opening titles onwards, with their emphasis on the four DNA bases A, C, G, T and the idea of selection, the whole aesthetic of the film is designed to heighten feelings of coldness, discomfort and alienation in the spectator. The film is shot in colour, yet thanks to the low lighting and uniform male dress code the dominant tone in many of the interior scenes is almost indistinguishable from monochrome. The pace is deliberately very slow, and much of the film is composed either in long (or very long) outdoor shots, in which the characters appear small or even insignificant against the large-scale, abstract architectural forms of Gattaca, or else in highly mannered, neoclassically composed interior tracking shots, in which the characters rise, descend or advance slowly up and down escalators or axial staircases.

The eerie, portentous and repetitive character of Michael Nyman's original music is reinforced and heightened by a whole series of vaguely threatening or ominous background noises, notably the hollow whoosh of the air-conditioning and the echoing footfalls of the personnel as they pass through the halls and corridors of Gattaca, while its slow tempo perfectly matches that of most of the action.

For a film almost wholly concerned with exploring the consequences for unfavoured individuals of a society based entirely on selection according to genetic worth, 'Gattaca has remarkably little to say about human genetics as such. From the fluency and conviction with which the implications of genetic knowledge are handled, it may be inferred that writer and director Andrew Niccol has made a fairly close study of modern genetics and contemporary controversies around the neo-eugenic potential implicit in the sequencing of the human genome, but most of the time, the relevant genetic knowledge is simply assumed rather than made explicit, and almost the only point at which the film lapses into pure science-fiction is when the newly-born Vincent's entire medical future is revealed by an almost instantaneous genetic read-out from a heel-tap blood test.

Genetics, or rather eugenics, is portrayed as not so much a science as an all-pervasive ideology, which provides society with both its basic values and its everyday modus operandi. Even Vincent, one of its rejects, is convinced of the superiority of embryo selection and in vitro fertilisation, which he describes, apparently without irony, as 'the natural way' of birth. His ultimately successful bid to dupe the system is purely individual and selfish in its motivation, with no wider ethical or political implications or consequences, and while physically he may be an impostor, in his ruthless determination and cold, calculating egotism he seems ideally qualified for membership of the ruling genetic elite.

'There is no gene for the human spirit', the film's tag-line blusters, but Vincent's audacious bid to become an astronaut offers the thoughtful viewer little hope or reason to believe that Man can really transcend his predetermined genetic limits and become the author of his own destiny.

Although one cannot but admire Vincent's determination to overcome his physical disadvantages and achieve his cherished goal, with the strictly superficial exception of Uma Thurman none of the principal characters is at all likeable or attractive, though both Ethan Hawke and Jude Law give excellent interpretations of their roles, and the spectator is invited to engage with the film in an almost purely intellectual and aesthetic way.

All these very deliberate effects do not make 'Gattaca' a very easy film to watch, but the film's superb composition, highly intelligent scripting and serious treatment, not of genetics per se, but of the question, 'what would it be like to live as an unfavoured individual in a society based entirely on selection according to predetermined genetic worth?' make for a thought-provoking and rewarding experience which improves steadily on repeat viewings.

Michael Clark is a Research Associate of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London, and a freelance writer on medical and scientific film and television.

Links

Internet Movie Database: 'Gattaca'