May 2009
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Fermat's Room (15)
Posted 27th May 2009

Comparisons with the low-budget cult classic Cube are inevitable for Fermat’s Room (La Habitación De Fermat): a group of strangers are trapped inside a room that requires them to solve puzzles in order to stay alive. That synopsis fits both films equally.

Despite its interesting premise and decent direction though, Fermat’s Room ultimatelyfalls short of Cube’s quality and surely won’t garner the following (or diminishing-in-quality sequels Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube Zero) that Vicenzo Natali’s fiercely original film did before it.

A thriller for the mind as much as the adrenal gland (perhaps arguably more so), Fermat’s Room is itself an interactive puzzle for the viewer to simultaneously solve in time with the protagonists. Who is Fermat? Why did he lure these particular mathematicians to his room to think for their lives? If a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? (obviously this isn’t one of the real maths puzzles posed in the film, but for the life of me I can’t remember any of them specifically!) How exactly do four walls move in concurrently as this isn’t spatially possible?

But then that seems to be the point of the film for first-time feature writer/directors Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña, for the viewer to have fun trying to solve the mystery and the logic problems instead of being led by an interesting plot. Which is a good thing because ultimately there isn’t much of one.

What the co-writer/directors don’t do is escalate things until the point of ridiculousness (which you can only imagine the inevitable Hollywood remake will do). For that they deserve kudos. But the film slowly builds to somewhat of a disappointing and muted conclusion that doesn’t befit the interesting build-up before it. In fact once we pass the halfway point and things start to get revealed the film is already slowly starting to lose its way.

There’s also a criminal lack of tension through. These people should be freaking out more and surely incriminating and attacking each other as the walls and claustrophobia slowly-but-surely creeps in? (think the trash compactor scene from Star Wars: A New Hope but stretched out over a full film running time). They don’t and this naturally bleeds out into the viewer, the lack of tension on-screen means a lack of tension felt by the viewer.

For all these faults though a different movie experience is to be had here, both invigorating and interesting (for the most part). It’s also a very stylish-looking film (the overhead shots of the room and two cars along an unlit road at night in particular), Piedrahita and Sopeña showing enough visual flair to anticipate their next feature. Flawed-but-fool proof and yet further proof of the quality coming out of Spain (Intacto, Rec, anything Almodóvar and, of course, Pan's Labyrinth).

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