eXistenZ
("Are we still in the game?")

What is this movie about? Reality, Games, Movies, and Sex.

Reality: The first time I saw the film, I accepted the ending at face value, that the whole body of the movie was a VR game called transCendenZ, that eXistenZ was only a fiction in the larger game. And there are certainly enough clues throughout the movie that what we're seeing is not real. For example, the country gas station called "Country Gas Station," and the motel called "Motel" (and the gas station attendant named "Gas," for that matter). And even the pulsing, organic "metaflesh game pods" and the gristle gun which we only accept because, after all, this is a David Cronenberg movie, are replaced in "reality" by bright, shiny VR equipment (headpieces and controllers) much more like those in "Strange Days", and regular pistols.

Also, the ending did answer my question about why Allegra Gellar, who is supposed to be under a threat of death, wanders around outside the gas station in the middle of the night while Ted is getting his bioport installed, and also why she goes around touching things and smelling the gas pumps. And (of course) why some of the characters have those ridiculous names and terrible accents.

But the second time I saw it, I noticed something which made me wonder. In the beginning, when Noel Dichter shoots Allegra with the gristle gun, the other people in the church react as people would in the real world. They scream and panic and fall all over each other trying to get away. But then, at the end, when Ted and Allegra shoot Yevgeny Nourish and Merle, the rest of the people in the church just sit and stare, not reacting at all. There's certainly enough time for them to react, but they don't, much like the people in the Chinese Restaurant when Ted shoots the waiter (in eXistenZ).

So, it's that rarest of commodities in major motion pictures these days, ambiguity. I checked if there were any clues in the clothing and hairstyles, but there aren't. They're consistent with three level of the plot "reality," eXistenZ" and the ending. In a conventional Hollywood movie, the ending might be that Allegra and Ted are somehow caught in eXistenZ, always thinking they're coming back to reality but never making it (like having a dream where you repeatedly think you're waking up only to find you're still dreaming). But that's only one of several possible interpretations, all apparently equally valid.

So, at the end, the question really is, "Are we still in the game?"


What is this movie about? Reality, Games, Movies, and Sex.


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Credits

Official eXistenZ Web Page


Credits

Written and Directed by David Cronenberg

Allegra Gellar : Jennifer Jason Leigh

Ted Pikul : Jude Law

Kiri Vinokur : Ian Holm

Gas : Willem Dafoe

Yevgeny Nourish : Don McKellar

Hugo Carlaw : Callum Keith Rennie

D'Arcy Nader : Robert A. Silverman

Seminar Leader : Christopher Eccleston

Chinese Waiter : Oscar Hsu

Merle : Sarah Polley

Noel Dichter : Kris Lemche