Reader's Choice: a look back at Gattaca (1997)
Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 10:30PM 
Welcome to the new bi-weekly series "Reader's Choice." For the first episode I gave you a choice of several films currently streaming and you picked Gattaca (on Amazon Prime). I hope you enjoy and comment since we haven't talked about this movie ever, that I can recall. - Nathaniel
Memories of Gattaca are fuzzy at best. I saw it only once in theaters 19 years ago. I remember: Jude Law in a wheelchair; sterile, sleek, and awesome production design; Uma Thurman being an icy receptionist?; Ethan Hawke being less of a perfect specimen than Jude Law in the context of the movie (this remains true out of context); a hard to buy premise about violence being bred out of the human race?; something about brothers swimming? That's it.
Join me in this revisit...
An odd juxtaposition: When the costume design credit arrives we're looking at a naked body
Gattaca begins with a beautiful blue credits sequence which becomes eerier as it goes along once you realize what its macro imagery is telling you. Ethan Hawke is ridding himself of all human detritus: dead flesh, body hair, cuticles, until he's smooth as a statue. He repeats this in several ways though sometimes (at work) the detritus isn't his. All the workers at his job get their fingers pricked upon entering like its a diabetic research center. There are even daily urine tests... which seems extreme for a world that's so into cleanliness. What if someone misses the specimen cup?
At the pee test the doctor (Xander Berkeley) looks right at his penis and says the following. [more...]
Julianne Moore's husband in [safe] checks out Uma Thurman's soon-to-be husband's junk.
Beautiful piece of equipment there, Jerome. I see a great many in the course of a given day. Yours just happens to be an exceptional example. I don't know why my folks didn't order one like that for me.
You could order Ethan Hawke's penis in the Nineties ?!?
First good shot of Uma as she approaches Ethan to tell him not to gaze up in the sky if he wants to pretend not to care. They're astronauts of some kind (this is all very vague) so I was wrong about her being a receptionist. It's the perfect segueway to a flashback of World Building. It's a doozy of a longwinded flashback, too, travelling all the way back to his conception. Take that, stuffy old biopics that only think to begin with the birth!
Look at the delivery nurse. It's Maya Rudolph delivering Ethan Hawke as a baby in her very first film
The flashback goes on for 25 entire minutes, which is about a fourth of the movie's running time. This "Not Too Distant Future" needs a lot of backstory. As Ethan Hawke narrates we get the full account. He is not Jerome but Vincent Freeman (note the unsubtle last name!) doomed to second class citizenship because he had a natural birth rather than a genetically modified start. In this future there are genetically perfect people and a caste like system where everyone else is bottom rung. Vincent had a perfect younger brother Anton so he's even second class even his family and but one day after beating his brother surprisingly in a swimming match he leaves the family behind for good and vanishes.
Vincent devises a plan to buy a genetically perfect person's identity that's for sale on the black market -- that shady Tony Shalhoub's always selling something. There's even a cutesy name for people who try to get away with this trick, a "borrowed ladder" or a "de'gene'rate" get it? Enter the real Jerome (Jude Law) genetically perfect but doomed to a wheelchair because "there's no gene for fate" and he was paralyzed in an accident.
the first shot of Jude most moviegoers ever saw. Also the moment Nathaniel pledged undying fandom
His credentials are impeccable. An expiration date you wouldn't believe. The guy is practically going to live forever. An IQ off the charts. Better than 20/20 in each eye. The heart of an ox. He could run through a wall.
...If he could still run.
I don't know about all that but living forever is a possibility with the performances Jude Law's given over the years.
Gattaca received only one well deserved Oscar nomination in its year, for Production Design, but if there were an Oscar for casting Francine Maisler would have deserved that nomination. Her work on this film is truly inspired: Uma Thurman and Jude Law (before he was famous even) as "perfect specimens" is self explanatory but even better is the idea of Ethan Hawke as someone who can kinda sorta get away with being perfect but isn't; there's something just a little off, and not just in that lopsided smile. Then there's great casting for the younger versions of the characters in the flashbacks and Loren Dean as Ethan Hawke's genetically perfect brother. Younger readers probably won't know who Loren Dean is but he was sort of the Jake Lacey of his day... strong jawed, all America handsome... or perhaps blandsome if that's not your type. If that all weren't superbly cast there's also smart deployments of Xander Berkeley, Alan Arkin (as a cop), Gore Vidal (as Uma & Ethan's boss) and Ernest Borgnine (a janitor) as key older figures.
When Gattaca came out Jude Law was on the cultural rise but far from famous. In the summer of 1995 he had been a (full frontal) sensation on Broadway as Kathleen Turner's young lover in Indiscretions (the first of his two Tony nominations) and by 1997 he had a handful of movies in the can but mostly people didn't yet have a face for the name. Gattaca was, for all intents and purposes, the "introduction" for most moviegoers. Within a couple of years he was an Oscar nominee and major star but they really could have jumpstarted the Oscar business right here.
Gore Vidal & Uma Thurman discussing "Myra Breckenridge"... no, wait, a rocket launch
Because he's great great great in this movie, exuding superiority and privilege but also subtly selling a shift in feeling toward Vincent, and ably displaying Jerome's seething resentments and unhappiness without being a drag on the movie. How does he do it? By puncturing some of the heaviest drama with rapier sharp jabs of wit. After one particularly tense verging on awkward scene with Vincent who's about to give up his life's work because he fears he has been discovered (long story but his eyelash was discovered near the scene of a crime), Jude lets Ethan overplay the freakout and then delivers a perfectly timed, ideally weighted retort:
Keep your lashes on your lids where they belong.
But this is not Jude/Jerome's movie but Ethan/Vincent's. As Vincent gets closer to his launch into the stars, he's also getting closer to Irene. (Trivia: Ethan & Uma met on this movie and married the next year). She admits a very minor heart defect which she can't know endears her to him even further. They take in a concert with a 12 fingered pianist. That's taking genetic engineering too far! Vincent reveals how uncultured he is when he tries to point out that this flaw is an advantage for a pianist. Duh Vincent he was genetically engineered that way. Quoth Irene like Vincent's stupid
That piece can only be played with 12.
As Irene and Vincent-as-Jerome fall in love the evidence at the workplace continues to point to the real Vincent as the culprit though he is innocent. One of Gattaca's neatest visual tricks is the how warm the light is when Vincent is at peace or longing for the stars and how increasingly bold and lurid the light and color gets when the murder investigation escalates. These two modes shouldn't work so well side by side but somehow they do.
Look at how beautiful this movie is!
This would have made a great BEST SHOT subject as 90s movies go
Cinematography by Slawomir Idziak (Black Hawk Down, Three Colors: Blue)
Though impeccably visually constructed, the film its building is far from perfect. The plot is vague but also filled with incidents, coincidences, and gets especially bogged down with the swimming rivalry of its brothers as children and adults. Gattaca mistakenly leans on this subplot in a "prove your manliness!" kind of way which might well be fitting for a film that has two conversations about the protagonists dick but it's still obnoxious for such an otherwise thoughtful sci-fi film. The swimming business makes for a major anticlimactic climax. Some of the script's more dramatic moments are also clunky.
Beyond the beautiful crafts on display, Gattaca's secret weapon is its clever variations on body horror. That's a strange thing to say about a film that looks so winningly sterile but the characters are constantly and forcibly focused on their physicality and the reality of their totally human bodies. Nearly every character, no matter how genetically beautifully, is painfully obsessed with being found out for a fraud over some minor defect or faiure. Eyelashes, hearts, eyes, saliva, hair, fingernails, skin, spine, genitals... any part of us can betray the whole at a moment's notice and expose who we really are or aren't. It's a uniquely potent thematic throughline and makes Gattaca something special, flaws and all, to this day.
And it should be stated again, in conclusion, that Jan Roelfs and Nancy Nye more than earned their Art Direction Oscar nomination -- they probably should've won! Here's the final beauteous shot of Vincent on Planet Earth. Note the two circular structures behind him. It's like yin and yang, Vincent/Jerome finally in balance, as our self-made if forged hero prepares to leave this globe behind for good.
Reader Comments (30)
Damn, I forgot how pretty this movie was. Totally deserved that Production Design nom. But I also would've nominated that chill inducing score.
I LOVE this movie. So great for so many reasons. And Law & Hawke are both awesome here (Uma less so but we'll forgive her as she looks great).
The production design certainly is stunning, but there's no way (in my mind anyway) that the Oscar deserved to go to any film but Titanic. It's one of the most deserving wins in the category ever I think (the recreation of the ship feels somewhat like a miracle).
I found it so stunning when I saw it, Uma and Jude law looked like another species. It was easy to believe them as genetically perfect.
It was one of those films that you just couldn't help talking about at work the next day. Even if the plot was a little clunky, it made you want to share the experience of seeing that sterile beauty.
Great write up, you really caught all the details.
I can't believe it's nearly 20 years since the film came out. I feel old. It's still an amazing film that I think gets better with each viewing. It's a shame everything else Andrew Niccol did (aside from "The Truman Show") never lived up to its brilliance.
I vividly remember Gattaca. I watched it by chance and was blown away by its beauty.
Gattaca is another movie that uses Frank Lloyd Wright architecture to stand in for "the future". In Gattaca, it's Wright's Marin County Civic Center (the Gattaca Corporation?)
In Blade Runner, Wright's Ennis House was Harrison Ford's house.
Yes, it *is* beautiful to look at. Production design and the actors, too. Was Hawke making BOYHOOD at this stage? No, he wasn't, was he?
One of my favorite childhood films and it absolutely deserved nominations for:
Original Screenplay
Supporting Actor (Jude Law)
Score
Cinematography
Production Design
Also if you love this film you should absolutely read this BRILLIANT academic essay about queerness, masculinity and imposture in Gattaca (see link below)
https://core.ac.uk/download/files/59/70585.pdf
PS: Nathaniel I'm surprised you posted that pic of the winding staircase in Vincent's apartment without mentioning that it looks like the double helix (DNA structure) -- yet another example of the film's brilliant Production Design.
Two sci-fi nominees in art direction that year! Gattaca and Men in Black.
But no film would deserve to beat titanic in this category, in that year and in most years.
Love the score. I can't believe Nyman has never been nominated
I will always regret not seeing Indiscretions on Broadway. My first time with Jude Law was in Wilde and I went crazy for the guy too.
I wish Andrew Niccol would deliver something this solid again.
Does Gattaca pre-date Wilde? Or is it vice versa? Either way, that's quite the one-two punch for Jude Law.
It's been a while since I saw this, but I loved it as a teenager.
Ben -- Gattaca precedes Wilde in the US but I assume not in the UK? Gattaca was actually Jude Law's second film to be released in the US. The first was his debut SHOPPING (1994) but I understand it had a tiny arthouse release ? At any rate his name didn't start popping up in the media conversation until "Indiscretions" on Broadway.
The children chose this over you seeing Cruel Intentions for a first time?!
I remember being obsessed with Gattaca because of the brilliant trailers (echoed by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind later) that were basically ads for genetically creating your offspring. Then my best friend and I saw it and were confused that it was mostly a murder mystery. But I loved it anyway for VERY gay reasons, although I didn't quite realize it at the time (I was just 13 and only beginning to understand the whole sexuality thing). Actually this may have been the first time I even barely understood my attraction to anything as gay - I mean how could you not with Jude Law and Ethan Hawke at peak (or near-peak) perfection, and Uma Thurman at peak fabulosity? I've seen it but once since, after I bought the DVD and was shocked at how easy it was to read a queer narrative into it. So for all that - and the stellar production design - Gattaca holds a special place in my heart.
/3rtful -- Cruel Intentions wasn't part of this first poll. It was on another post where i toyed with the idea of doing a series something like this. But i think i'll do it biweekly now. it was fun.
The presence of Uma kept me from seeing this film in its theatrical release, but the parts of it I've caught on someone's TV screen have always looked gorgeous.
@PaulOutlaw: "The presence of Uma kept me from seeing this film in its theatrical release"
I'm sorry, what language are you speaking? I can't make sense of this sentence. ;^)
Love this movie, it was one of my first forays into grownup movies. I remember writing a report on it for fourth grade English class and gave what is, as far as I can remember, my earliest exegetical note on a film: "Loren Dean looks like a human shark" A comment which in retrospect I find both nonsensical and perfect.
It makes me a bit sad to see what's become of Andrew Niccol's career. What a debut and not so much later he's helming some jetsam Stephanie Meyer property.
I loved this film when I first saw it on vhs, I was 14 at the time.
Great writing, Nathaniel! This must become a regular series, but you have to promise writing about Cruel Intentions next time.
The Michael Nyman score is one of my most played albums. I must have seen the VHS a couple dozen times. This is one of those films that really should've been up for the Kundun/Anna Karenina quartet.
A cool looking sci-fi movie with a gorgeous cast
@ Hustler:
In this case, I speak the language of acting. With very few (and I'll get back to you on that) exceptions, Uma's appeal has less to do with extraordinary skills as an actress and more with looks, quality, the ineffable "aura." Not my cup of aura, though.
I adore this film. Having a competitive brother myself, the relationship with the brother moved me immensely and gave better context to why Vincent is so ambitious and would possibly murder someone to achieve his goals. Those type of familial relationships shape your entire outlook. I bought that swim scene. Totally. That is something brothers will do.
Also. I just love, love, love that this film has real issues and themes to talk about! There is actual depth here. How many films actually do that? Yes, you could discuss the plot items like cliff notes, but what about the real issues this film brings up like sibling rivalry, genetic modification, nuture vs. nature, classism, realistic dystopian futures, etc.? This is brilliant storytelling and scriptwriting and what I love about the power of science fiction.
Finally, the ending with Jude Law and Michael Nyman's score gets me every time. Every. Time.
I had seen Indiscretions on Broadway (RIP Roger Rees!) and was aware of Jude Law's extraordinary beauty back then. (I also knew Jude because he nabbed Sadie Frost away from Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp! I'm so old, I know.)
But despite all that striking imagery, what hit me hardest about the movie was actually the plight of Loren Dean's character, and his wonderful acting. He's my fave part of the story. Loren was also a much-lauded theater actor back then. Where has he been lately?
Man, I need to see this movie again. At the time I don't think I quite realized how heavily it was leaning on the noir, but these shots just hammer that home...a beautiful sci fi noir of course. Not perfect, as you note, but pretty darn amazing. And one of my top ten opening credits sequences, easily.
" It's a shame everything else Andrew Niccol did (aside from "The Truman Show") never lived up to its brilliance."
i would disagree. Lord of War (2005) is definitely Niccol's best movie.
1.Lord of War (2005) - 10/10 (within my Top 17 movies)
2.Gattaca (1997) - 8/10 (within my Top 83 movies)
-.S1m0ne (2002) (underrated. also, within my Top 83 movies)
4.Good Kill (2014-2015) - 7/10 (within my Top 235 movies)
5.In Time (2011) - 6/10 (a mild Thumbs Up)
6.The Host (2013) - 5/10 (Thumbs Down)
so for me he's got at least three strong movies and basically four.
p.s. The Truman Show (1998) (5/10) is pretty average/forgettable if you ask me. i think it would have been better had Niccol directed it.
Brilliant film. I watched it again recently and it holds up perfectly despite being 20 years old. In fact, I recently wrote a blog post analyzing the moral situation presented in Gattaca from the Eastern philosophical perspective:
https://purelandsutras.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/the-moral-of-gattaca-1997/