The movie is fine, well acted, directed and with an interesting script. Interesting does not mean funny: this is why I gave it only a seven. Author should have been a bit more ironical. Not converting the movie in a comedy, of course. Just a little lighter.During a dream I experienced the same sensation of "knowing everything" the main character refers to. In stimuli deprivation our brain will create fantasy worlds for us. It creates delusional worlds similar to dreams or to psychedelic drugs effects.My personal opinion is that our "selves" cannot be disconnected by our bodies: we don't live into our minds. When someone looses his self, we say he is reduced to a vegetable. He is no longer alive. In a similar way the mind alone cannot be considered alive: it would create chaotic thoughts and the brain would also create fake sensory responses in a kind of limbo.That's why the movie is too "still". With the premise of a brain without a body, fantasies should have been much more weird and hard to understand. Anybody can try to experience something like that. Just find a quiet place, no noise, no one can disturb. Make sure you can be at least an hour with your eyes closed and covered by a mask or something. To cover ambient sounds take a radio and tune it where there is no station or search on line for white noise generator. Temperature should be constant and comfortable.Have fun!

It's one of those extremely rare highly intelligent and original movies. Visually excellent to a fault, but it's the story that dominates. It doesn't take very long for the movie to get quite complicated; it's a complex movie that requires a lot of thought, speculation and guessing - and that's part of the fun with movies like these. And when it seems that no ending in the world could possibly make everything previous add up - it does. The ending connects everything neatly. (That is, if you "get" it.) Plus, the script is "fair" and gives the viewer clues as to what is really going on with the main character. The film makes so much sense on so many levels. There are many interesting ideas presented; one could analyze this movie and the ideas it presents for hours.The last scene of the movie will confuse some people but is actually rather simple: the main character is dreaming his last dream - of sitting on the beach with his wife, watching the ocean - and when a light appears on the horizon that light is the man's brain giving a signal on the machine that is keeping his brain alive. And when the light extinguishes, the man says "thank God", commenting on his own death; he is relieved that his bizarre existence is finally coming to an end. It is coming to an end because his wife decided to let the machine be switched off so that the brain can finally cease to live.The film is probably the best in a series of excellent movies that came out around the late 90s, and that deal with reality: "eXistenZ", "Dark City", the Spanish "Open Your Eyes", "The 13th Floor" (1999), "Fight Club" and "Eyes Wide Shut". Time will make classics out of all of them.This is one of the best movies I have seen in years, and certainly one of the most thought-provoking. If you're looking for something other than the usual overrated, pointless, and dull Oscar-winning trash, check this one out. Good soundtrack.

Very interesting.Thought provoking.Surprising. Philosopical mystery, that touches the very essence of our existence: "I think and therefore I exist". The brain/mind is everything, and all the world that we "sense" is created inside it by stimuli that may be of false origins.

Robert Lepage takes an intriguing, clever premise and then steadfastly refuses to develop it for what seems a very long time, finally offering a resolution that follows the path of least interest. I cannot think of any element of this movie that has not been done better elsewhere, or a single compelling reason to see this film instead of any other. Take special pains to avoid this movie if you have seen one or more of: Dark City, Lost Highway, Groundhog Day, or Brain Dead (the Bill Pullman / Bill Paxton one). If you have it will only frustrate you to see such similar ideas, done so well elsewhere, done so poorly here. If you have not seen those movies, see them instead of this one. If you want to see a good Tom McCamus movie, rent "I Love a Man in Uniform". If you want a good Tilda Swinton movie, rent "Orlando". If you're interested in Robert Lepage, see any other Robert Lepage movie (but especially "Le Confessional"). If you want a good Genie-nominated movie, see "Maelstrom" or "waydowntown" or "New Waterford Girl".Lepage treats his ultimately flimsy story with the naive glee of someone who has never read any science fiction, ever, or even seen a decent Star Trek episode. Like many previous non-SF artists who have done SF, they believe the sheer novelty of an odd premise can sustain an entire narrative while they concentrate on peripheral things like clever scene changes and convincing their actors to behave like zombies. This makes for a dreary, self-important film made only worse by its utter lack of necessity. The poster's nice, though.