Fermat’s Room

Directed by Luis Piedrahita & Rodrigo Sopeña

Equal parts David Mamet double-cross thriller (House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, Heist) and quasi-metaphysical math-themed sci-fi (Cube, Cube 2: Hypercube), this stylish Spanish story of four math geniuses stuck in a shrinking room doesn’t have the narrative chops to sustain its tension to the end. Piedrahita and Sopeña create a nail-biting scenario over the first hour, but as Fermat’s Room enters its final phase leaps in logic and overwrought explanations make for a disappointing ending. Also, the riddles these supposed geniuses are made to solve in order to avoid compaction are old favorites most of us learned as teenagers. Does this mean Americans have finally climbed to the pinnacle of logic and mathematics education, vastly outstripping these Iberian lackeys? Doubtful. More likely Piedrahita and Sopeña weren’t ballsy enough to write a script of completely mumbo-jumbled equations that we would never have bothered to investigate.

After expository introductions, the four main characters are invited via mysterious letters to a meeting of great mathematically-inclined minds in the titular room. Our four protagonists quickly fall apart and reveal their secrets as the walls push them together. There’s the old-world aristocratic professor, the working-class engineer, the egocentric young math star (such a thing exists apparently, in Spain), and the uppity woman they pass around more or less metaphorically. This is where the film falters, as elaborate back-stories are provided to connect these characters who function much better as archetypes without fully-developed personalities.

Fermat’s Room is strong where Cube and its sequel were weak (acting, art design), but could have benefited from mimicking their disregard for narrative explanation. Referring to past events and having characters recount injurious stories slows the pace more than the additional information justifies. This background data does little to heighten the tension. If putting four essentially likeable characters into a deadly trap doesn’t make us care about them (which it had), finding out they’re alternately lying, cheating, lecherous and murderous won’t help.

Beyond its over-determined audience identification and over-simplified riddles, Fermat’s Room is an enjoyable film. The narrative is engaging until the last third, and there are no glaring weaknesses. It’s more polished and big budget-looking than many international entries at Tribeca this year, with snazzy locations and sets, and stylish cinematography. The opening credit sequence, incidentally, is a close second to Simon Brand’s Paraiso Travel for the Festival’s coolest.

This review appeared on The L Magazine's blog as part of the magazine's coverage of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, and can also be read here.