David O'ConnellCold Souls
May 26th 2011 05:32
Who better than Paul Giamatti to convey an immobilising bout of existential angst? In Sophie Barthes’s Cold Souls, the Oscar nominated actor plays an alternate version of himself in an alternate version of the world; one in which the soul is an organ able to be extracted by specialists like The Soul Storage Company, run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn).
Seen immersing himself in the role of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya for a stage production in the opening scene, Giamatti desperately desires a disassociation from the part. His body is becoming a vessel for Vanya’s physical ailments, leaving him drained and flattened. His solution, suggested by a friend, is to commit to what he initially dispels as an insane notion – to rid himself of his unwanted soul, making everything, as Dr. Flintstein assures him, “more functional and purposeful”.
Once extracted, souls can resemble all sorts of things: a prune, a jellybean, or in Giamatti’s case, a chickpea! Unfortunately soulessness disagrees with him, leaving a hollow and dry feeling. He's now more like the husk of a man - and one unable to produce the appropriate responses to even make love to his wife Claire (Emily Watson).
Cold Souls skates by on the eccentricity of a novel, engaging premise that has been perfectly pitched for Giamatti; indeed the actor seems to be having a ball playing around with a public perception of him as a tortured artist – overwrought, overly serious and crippled by angst. The first hour is flawlessly executed with a blackly ironic sense of humour that keeps the laughs flowing at a steady rate.
It’s only in the final 30 minutes that Barthes's film begins to waver and eventually run out of steam. It’s during this period that Giamatti joins forces with the Russian soul-trafficking mule, Nina (Dina Korzun) who stole his soul for her boss, a ruthless Russian mobster who acquired it - for lack of a better option - to transplant into his gorgeous young wife, a low-grade soap opera star (Katheryn Winnick).
Visually the film achieves an impressive clinical coldness and even as the narrative sputters to an unsatisfying conclusion Giamatti keeps its heart ticking with his humourous constant fretting and pouting. As generally satisfying as Cold Souls is, one does wonder how much more mileage a writer like Charlie Kaufman might have got out of the initial premise.
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
so, what is the extent of behaviour being without a soul, in his concept?
I mean, is there a complete lack of morality, so psychopathy rules?
By the way, a small typo...
"Unfortunately soulnessness disagrees with him.."
you put an extra "n" soulessness...
cheers
fog
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
is it screening or is it on DVD?
Certainly sounds rather egocentric too, naval gazing like Woody Allen I wonder?
cheers
fog