Code 46 main backdrop
Code 46 main poster

6.2/10 • 371

2003-09-021h 33m

DramaScience FictionThriller

How do you solve a crime when the last thing you want to know is the truth?

In a dystopian future, insurance fraud investigator William Gold arrives in Shanghai to investigate a forgery ring for "papelles", futuristic passports that record people's identities and genetics. Gold falls for Maria Gonzalez, the woman in charge of the forgeries. After a passionate affair, Gold returns home, having named a coworker as the culprit. But when one of Gonzalez's customers is found dead, Gold is sent back to Shanghai to complete the investigation.

Directors
Michael Winterbottom
Editors
Peter Christelis

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Tim Robbins

    Tim Robbins

    William Geld

  2. Samantha Morton

    Samantha Morton

    Maria Gonzales

  3. Nabil Elouahabi

    Nabil Elouahabi

    Vendor

  4. Om Puri

    Om Puri

    Bahkland

  5. Emil Marwa

    Emil Marwa

    Mohan

  6. Nina Fog

    Nina Fog

    Wole

  7. Bruno Lastra

    Bruno Lastra

    Bikku

  8. Togo Igawa

    Togo Igawa

    Driver

  9. Natalie Mendoza

    Natalie Mendoza

    Sphinx Receptionist

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Aug 31, 2025

6/10

I struggle with some of these futuristic dystopian dramas simply because I can never imagine how humanity could ever find itself in the situation where life could really be like this. This one adds an additional, if entirely accidental, Oedipean element to the plot. “Geld” (Tim Robbins) is an investigator who tracks down folks who peddle in fake travel documents. Believe it or not, this is big business in a world where travel is tightly regulated by the governmental “Sphinx”. His latest trip takes him to Shanghai where he encounters “Maria” (Samantha Morton) whom he quickly deduces is behind the forgeries, but he’s too smitten to do anything about it as he embarks on twenty-four hours of activities he might not like to recount to his wife at home. Anyway, back home he goes only for his boss to enquire as to why he seemed to have failed in his mission and to promptly send him back. Was this his plan all along - to be sent back? Well when he tries to find “Maria” again, he discovers that she has undergone memory erasing treatment following her alleged breaching of “Code 46”. He also discovers that she is not quite the random person he had initially supposed, and that the genetics of two into one don’t really go! Essentially this comes across as a curious take on a love story, with Robbins confidently delivering a persona that still yearns for a degree of humanity in the face of an increasingly sterile and prescribed human existence. Morton also delivers well, exuding a certain vulnerability as her character sits on the wrong side of an arbitrarily defined society that discriminates indiscriminately. The plot tries to reconcile some more scientific concepts alongside the emotionally conflicted ones, but that’s where I found it’s wheels came off. It hasn’t quite the convictions to deliver without reaching an uncomfortable compromise that I felt rather let the whole thing down, and boy can it take it’s time as it often feels way longer than ninety minutes. There are moments of chemistry between the pair, and I did like the premise but the over-written and ponderous execution just left me disappointed, sorry.

Media

  • Code 46 poster
  • Code 46 poster
  • Code 46 poster
  • Code 46 poster
  • Code 46 poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$7,500,000.00
Revenue
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Keywords
futureshanghai, chinadystopiaseattle, washingtoninsurance agent