Cold Souls 2009

     This film is about Civilization and its discontents.  Paul is an actor preparing for a role as "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway and it is mired in ennui.  His agent tells him about an office where he can put his soul in storage.  He does this and then he discovers that being soulless helps neither his acting or his marriage.  He returns to the office and rents the soul of a Russian poet for two weeks.  His acting improves but his wife finds him different and he sees bits of the borrowed soul's life.  Now he's plummeted into a deep sorrow.  He wants his own soul back but there are complications?  It is in St. Petersburg.  With the help of Nina, a Russian who transports souls to the U.S., he determines to get it back.  Who is he and who has he become is the real problem and question?

     Actor Paul Giamatti is suffering greatly as he rehearses for a Chekhov play.  He can't separate himself from the unhappy character he's playing.  When he reads a magazine article about the innovative process of safe "soul removal and storage" he's intrigued.  Friendly Dr. Flintstein and his beaming assistant facilitate the transplant with ease.  Paul is initially elated and relieved.  It isn't long before he realizes that both his acting and his marriage to Claire are less than stellar without an intact soul.  Unfortunately, his soul is no longer in Flintstein's vault.  It has actually been stolen by a Russian black marketeer.  Soon a hapless Russian "soul mule" becomes Paul's ally in the quest for his soul's return?

     Although this indie comedy (?) about the soul transplant business is imaginative, it probably won't have much appeal for kids or young teens.  It's grown-up material and the humor comes from looking at our culture's incessant soul-searching and self-involvement to a new level of absurdity.  Expect some mostly mild swearing and smoking.  There are also two scenes with brief female nudity with models in a drawing class and a poster designed to elicit a humorous response.  3* (This movie is OK)


101 min, Comedy directed and written by Sophie Barthes with Paul Giamatti, Armand Schultz, Michael Tucker, Dina Korzun, Ted Koch, Oksana Lada, Natalia Zvereva Larisa Bell, Anna Dyukova, Charles Techman, Lauren Ambrose, David Strathairn, Laura Heisler, Birenin Bryant, Charlotte Mickie,

Note:  Imdb 6.4* out of 10* with 9,566 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes75% with 126 critic reviews 54% with 25,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 3*, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Common Sense Media Renee Schonfeld 3* out of 5*,   age 15+, 2* positive messages, drinking, drugs & smoking, 3* role models, sex, language, Metacritic 69 out of 100 with 28 critic reviews 5.8 out of 10 with 32 user scores.

Special Note:  This film was inspired by a dream Sophie Barthes had and in it Woody Allen discovers that his soul looks just like a chickpea.  Barthes wrote the first draft with Allen in mind for the lead role.  It is also inspired by Carl Gustav Jung’s "Modern Man in Search of a Soul".  The opening quote says: "The soul has its principal seat in the small gland located in the middle of the brain.”  This is from Rene Descartes, The Passions of the Soul,1649.