The different lives of Mr. Nobody
As long as you do not choose… everything is still possible
Mr. Nobody is a 2009 science fiction drama film written and directed by Jaco Van Dormael and starring Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Rhys Ifans, Natasha Little, Toby Regbo and Juno Temple.
The film tells the life story of Nemo Nobody, a 118-year-old man who is the last mortal on Earth after the human race has achieved quasi-immortality. Nemo, memory fading, refers to his three main loves and to his parents’ divorce and subsequent hardships endured at three critical junctions in his life: at age nine, fifteen, and thirty-four. Alternate life paths branching out from each of those critical junctions are examined. The speculative narrative often changes course with the flick of a different possible decision at each of those ages.
Mr. Nobody had its world premiere at the 66th Venice International Film Festival where it received the Golden Osella and the Biografilm Lancia Award. Critical response was generally strong and the film was nominated for seven Magritte Awards, winning six, including Best Film and Best Director for Van Dormael. The film was mostly funded through European financiers and was released in Belgium on 13 January 2010.
if you mix the mashed potatoes and the sauce you can’t separate them later
it’s forever
the smoke comes out of Daddy’s cigarettes but it never goes back in
you cannot go back
that’s why it’s hard to choose
you have to make the right choice
as long as you don’t choose
everything remains possible
Vocabulary
Science fiction film: Science fiction film (or sci-fi film) is a genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception and time travel, along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. In many cases, tropes derived from written science fiction may be used by filmmakers ignorant of or at best indifferent to the standards of scientific plausibility and plot logic to which written science fiction is traditionally held.
Tropes: a use of a word or expression in an unusual way to help a writer to achieve an effect.
Hardships: a situation in which life is very difficult, usually because you do not have enough money. Something that makes your life more difficult or unpleasant.
Even slight rent increases would cause considerable hardship.
Many students are facing financial hardship.
Junctions: a place where two or more highways, railroad lines, or rivers join together.
There’s an accident at the junction of the Ventura and San Diego Freeways.
ancient cities built at the junction of two important rivers.
Branch: A part of something larger:
Immunology is a branch of biological science.
One branch of their family (= one group of relatives) emigrated to Brazil.
In the US, the president is part of the executive branch of the government.
To divide into two:
The road branches at the bottom of the hill.
Speculative: based on a guess and not on information.
His theory is too speculative for most of his colleagues to accept at this point.
This type of polling is less scientific and more speculative.
The numbers are high, but they’re purely speculative.
There is another speculative but intriguing explanation.
Speculative fiction: a genre of fiction that includes works in which the setting is not the real world, often including supernatural or science fiction elements.
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