Code 46

Synopsis: Code 46 is a love story set in a Brave New World-type near-future where cities are heavily controlled and only accessible through checkpoints. People cannot travel unless they have "papeles" (papers in Spanish; words and sentences in many languages, especially Spanish, French and Chinese are mixed with English in this new world), a special travel permit issued by the totalitarian government, the "Sphinx". Outside these cities, the desert has taken over and shanty towns are jammed with non-citizens - people without IDs forced to live primitive lives. William is a family man who works as a government investigator. When he is sent to Shanghai to solve a case of fake IDs, he meets a woman named Maria. Although he realizes she is behind the forgeries, he cannot help but fall completely in love with her. He hides her crime and they have a wild, passionate affair that can only last as long as his visa: 24 hours. Back home, William is obsessed with the memory of Maria. When the original invest
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Production: MGM
  4 wins & 10 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.2
Metacritic:
57
Rotten Tomatoes:
50%
R
Year:
2003
93 min
Website
438 Views


I think about the day we met.

I suppose you would have

arrived par avion.

Maybe you were the first

to get to security.

You didn't intend to stay.

You only had 24-hour cover,

so luggage a mano.

And they probably had a driver waiting...

so you didn't need to find un coche.

You'd never been to Shanghai before.

It was all new to you.

How do people live out here?

It's not living. Just existing.

- You ever lived al fuera?

- No.

Can I have your papel, please?

Sherbet fountains, cigarettes,

batteries, haircuts.

Who gets their hair cut at a checkpoint?

But I'm vite. I will show you.

- Give me a couple of sherbet fountains.

- Two sherbet fountains.

Get me in, mister.

I can do haircuts in there.

- I'm wasted out here.

- I've only got cover for myself.

- You got any spare cover?

- I only cover for one.

- Sorry.

- You want to swap places with me?

- You and me?

- I wear suit, you wear this.

It's tempting. Good luck.

What's your name?

- Nabil.

- All right. Bye.

I don't think it's a good idea

to encourage them.

If people can't get cover,

there's a reason.

You arrived in the morning,

so the streets were deserted.

Did you call anyone?

Did you have a cerveza?

Sometimes I imagine you watching the news.

Sometimes playing a game.

Sometimes sleeping,

preparing yourself for the night ahead.

The thing I can't imagine

is that we hadn't met.

Hadn't even heard of each other.

That you thought it was going to be

just another night.

Happy birthday, Maria. Time to wake up.

It was my birthday, which I hate.

Every year on my birthday I have a dream.

Always the same dream.

I go down into the subway,

I wait for the train.

I'm worried I'm going to be late.

The train leaves the station.

I feel like going to sleep,

but there's someone I have to find.

And I have to find him

before the train stops.

The train goes through one station.

There are 19 more to go.

I have to find him.

And then I wake up.

Happy birthday, Maria. Time to wake up.

The next year I had exactly

the same dream.

Only this time I went past two stations.

Don't ask me how I knew. I just knew

that there were 18 stations to go.

Next year, 17. Next year, 16.

Every birthday, one less.

Today's my birthday.

Today I'm down to the last one.

If I fall asleep,

I'll get to my destination.

If I want to, I can discover

my fate tonight.

- Lo siento.

- That's okay.

So, what am I going to do?

I'm going to stay awake all day.

Who wants to discover their fate?

Who wants to take a chance like that?

- Hello.

- I'm here to see Mr. Backland.

I'll let him know you're here,

he'll send someone along.

I'm here on an investigation,

and I would find it useful...

if I could wander around a little bit.

All visitors have to be accompanied,

so if you'd like to wait over there.

- Someone will take you through.

- Let me do my job.

If I let you do yours,

then I wouldn't be doing mine, would I?

That is a conundrum.

If I could figure out your password,

your palabra...

You couldn't do it.

I just need to know

one piece of information.

- Is this some kind of trick?

- No. It could be anything. Just one thing.

Tell me one thing about yourself.

Anything at all.

My birthday. My palabra's

not my birthday. Vingt-neuf.

Your palabra is "carrefour."

- Crossroad. Carrefour.

- Wait. How did you know that?

- Can I register now?

- How did you know my palabra?

I listened to you

while you weren't speaking.

- Don't worry about it.

- I could get into trouble doing this.

I'm just gonna go straight to his office,

that's all I'm gonna do.

Don't worry about it.

- William Geld, salaam.

- Mr. Backland.

You caught me off guard.

I was going to come down

and greet you properly.

I guess that's one of your skills.

Cunning.

I have no cunning I'm afraid.

- This is your first visit?

- Yes.

Will you have time to see the mammoth?

We specialize in

short-term cover certificates.

We do limited cover pour specific tasks.

Maybe a parachute jump,

maybe a medical procedure.

People only buy fakes

if we won't grant legitimate cover.

If we won't grant legitimate cover,

believe me, there's a reason.

The Sphinx knows best.

Fake cover is a ticket

to avoidable suffering.

I worry about them, you know.

We know which printer the fakes come from.

Every printer has its own fingerprint.

This one is from our number 8 printer.

Only a few people are cleared to use it.

It has to be one of them.

All I need is a nice quiet room

and some time...

and I'll have this cleared up for you

by this evening.

It's a happy workplace.

I don't want to create an atmosphere.

I don't want anyone

to know what's going on.

Tell them what you like.

Tell them I'm the tooth fairy.

Tell me something about yourself,

anything at all.

I was born in Nampally Road, Hyderabad.

- Tell me something about yourself.

- Anything?

Try to make it interesting,

I've got a long day ahead of me.

I have una cosa about freckles.

A sexual cosa.

I find freckles a turn-on.

Freckled skin, it's like it's clothed

and not clothed.

There's no freckle pornography.

Women get famous for breasts and legs,

but not for freckles.

There's Anne of Green Gables.

I regard Anne of Green Gables

as an erotic classic.

Normans. Amazing.

They invented the whole English language

out of nothing but French.

And some Latin, obviously.

Yeah, obviously.

There's a girl here, Maria.

She's tone-deaf.

She can't hold a tune to save her life.

That's beautiful, don't you think?

- What are you thinking?

- I'm thinking, "Have we met before?"

Upstairs, the foyer,

we almost bumped into each other.

I feel I know you.

Come on. One thing about yourself.

I'm not sure I want you to know

something about me.

Anyway, I can never think of anything

when people ask me straight out comme ca.

You want to prompt me?

- It won't work if I prompt you.

- What won't work?

Tell me what you're doing later tonight.

- Is that a question or an invitation?

- It's a prompt.

Tonight, I am going to stay awake...

until the sun goes down.

I'm not going to sleep.

Pourquoi?

It's my birthday.

Happy birthday.

I'm gonna need to take your information

for future reference.

It's difficult.

When you can get a big dinero

for a piece of paper...

it's a big temptation.

Are you sure it's him?

- I thought it might be her.

- I don't think so.

Do you have evidence?

I don't need to give you evidence.

It's intuition you're paying for.

You okay?

Bueno. Absolutely.

- Am I under surveillance?

- No.

So what? Do you wanna go out with me?

It's your birthday.

Don't you have other plans?

I have to meet someone later,

but I'm hungry.

- Let's go and eat.

- All right.

I was never scared of you.

Even when I should have been.

Even though my fate was in your hands,

I always trusted you.

Why did you do it?

For the money. Why did you do it?

- What?

- Lie for me.

I don't know.

It's very impulsive.

I can be impulsive.

- Happy birthday.

- I love these.

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