FilmSkool — a free film school
Gattaca
Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation.
1997 · Directed by Andrew Niccol · 107 min · Science Fiction · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 49 frames
Tagline
There is no gene for the human spirit.
Plot
In the "not-too-distant" future, eugenics is common. A genetic registry database uses biometrics to classify those so created as "valids" while those conceived naturally and more susceptible to genetic disorders are known as "in-valids". Genetic discrimination is illegal, but in practice genotype profiling is used to identify valids to qualify for professional employment while in-valids are relegated to menial jobs.
Vincent Freeman was conceived naturally, and his genetic profile indicates a high probability of several disorders and an estimated lifespan of 30.2 years. His parents, regretting their decision, use genetic selection in conceiving their second child, Anton Jr. Growing up, the two brothers often play a game of "chicken" by swimming out to sea as far as possible, with the first one returning to shore considered the loser; Vincent always loses. Vincent dreams of a career in space travel, but is always reminded of his genetic inferiority. One day, Vincent challenges Anton to a game of chicken and beats him. Anton starts to drown and is saved by Vincent. Shortly after, Vincent leaves home.
Years later, Vincent works cleaning office spaces, including that of spaceflight conglomerate Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. He gets a chance to pose as a valid with a "borrowed ladder", using donated hair, skin, blood, and urine samples from former swimming star Jerome Eugene Morrow, who was paralyzed after being hit by a car. With Jerome's genetic makeup, Vincent gains employment at Gattaca and is assigned as a navigator for an upcoming mission to Saturn's moon Titan. To conceal his identity, Vincent must meticulously groom and scrub his body daily to remove his own genetic material, pass daily DNA scanning and urine tests using Jerome's samples, and hide his heart defect.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Andrew Niccol
- Cinematography: Sławomir Idziak
- Edited by: Lisa Zeno Churgin
- Music: Michael Nyman
- Production design: Jan Roelfs
- Produced by: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher
Cast
- Ethan Hawke as Vincent Freeman
- Uma Thurman as Irene Cassini
- Jude Law as Jerome Eugene Morrow
- Alan Arkin as Detective Hugo
- Loren Dean as Adult Anton Freeman
- Gore Vidal as Director Josef
- Tony Shalhoub as "German"
- Ernest Borgnine as Caesar
- Blair Underwood as Geneticist
- Xander Berkeley as Dr. Lamar
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Esperanto
- Studios: Jersey Films, Columbia Pictures
- Budget: $36,000,000
- Box office: $12,532,777
- Themes: genetics, cheating, paraplegic, suicide attempt, dystopia, dna, new identity, investigation, heart disease, spaceman
Own the film
FilmSkool earns a small commission from qualifying Amazon purchases, at no cost to you.
More by Andrew Niccol
On this film
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.