Cosmopolis

David Cronenberg is truly not a director from whom ordinary films should be expected. Whether it's Naked Lunch, A History of Violence, Crash or Scanners, Cronenberg's films are usually dark, brutal, challenging, disturbing. While not all of his films are masterpieces, very special cinema is actually guaranteed by the name Cronenberg. With a very true-to-the-works adaptation of Don Delillo's novel Cosmopolis, the Canadian filmmaker once again refuses to go mainstream, but in this case that's not all positive.

The film centers on the heavily wealthy, cynical, self-absorbed speculator Eric Parker (Robert Pattinson), who wants to drive his limo across Manhattan to a hair appointment on the day in April 2000, of all days, when traffic there is at a virtual standstill. After all, the American president is in town, accompanied by a crowd of angry opponents of globalization. In addition, the Sufi rapper Brutha Fez is being buried by numerous followers. Only at walking pace can the car, accompanied by a bodyguard (Kevin Durand), creep through the streets. Eric spends the time satisfying his hunger for sex and conscienceless futures. But with only his outsized ego in mind, he doesn't seem to see that he's about to lose more than just his money...

Cosmopolis is not a particularly light film. Relying almost entirely on dialogue, the chamber/limo play proves extremely unwieldy at many moments, feels highly artificial due to its almost direct take on the literary template, and also makes it difficult to see its point, if there is one. Of course, it is obvious to understand the whole thing as a critique of capitalism, as a commentary on the financial crisis. But the film is much more beneath its supercooled surface, a multi-layered examination of many essential questions, than it might at first appear. However, the production, probably due in part to the literary template, makes it very difficult to break through the surface and see what makes this film so special.

And so the actual quality of Cosmopolis will probably be revealed to very few, though viewers who simply find this film boring, exhausting or pretentious cannot be blamed. Because Eric is an unsympathetic, very superficial character, his conversations are at first glance solely there to satisfy his ego or sexual desire. And mustering the will to see more in that is a challenge you have to consciously face. And in a film starring Robert Pattinson, such a challenge truly could not have been expected.

While Pattinson delivers a really good performance in itself. After all, even in the scene when he's having his prostate examined for almost ten minutes, he still seems completely convinced of himself and confident. The other actors, who often appear for only a few minutes, also adequately convey the difficult material to the screen, with Paul Giamatti and Jay Baruchel especially standing out.

Cosmopolis is truly not a film for the masses. It is not entertainment cinema, but atmospheric head cinema that deliberately makes it difficult for viewers to discover its qualities, which are definitely there. Thus David Cronenberg once again lives up to his reputation as a master of unusual and challenging films. Therefore: really only recommended for die-hard Cronenberg fans who appreciate unwieldy dialogue cinema with a well-hidden message.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp