Pi (AKA π)
Dir: Darren Aronofsky
1998
*****
Darren Aronofsky’s π has to be one of the most impressive film debuts of all time. He seemed to come out of nowhere and was soon established as one of the most exciting film directors working today. It’s an incredible thriller, a real antidote to the colour-by-numbers thrillers of the late 90s and one of the few modern films where I honestly believe the high-contrast black and white cinematography was valid and added to the story. It’s a film that warrents repeat viewings but in a good way. I don’t think a repeat viewing is nesessery in order to understand it, I just feel that there is much more to be learned and noticed on a second or third viewing. It was co-written by Aronofsky and Sean Gullette who also stared as the film’s protagonist. Like all thrillers there are good guys and bad guys but the difference with π (or Pi) is that the characters biggest struggle is with himself. Christopher Nolan, who also released his film debut in 1998 – in black and white – followed a similar structural pattern in his successful 2000 thriller Memento. He suggested his use of non-linear plot structure and this type of storytelling reflected the audience's inherent uncertainty about characters in film noir explaining that in a compelling story of this genre we are continually being asked to rethink our assessment of the relationship between the various characters, and I decided to structure my story in such a way as to emphasize the audience's incomplete understanding of each new scene as it is first presented. I can’t help but think Aronofsky’s π was a huge influence on him and the rest of his career. It was a sleepy hit in 1998, although it was generally revisited and discovered after Aronofsky’s second and more successful film Requiem for a Dream. I only sought out π after I learned that Clint Mansell was involved. Mansell was in one of my favorite bands of all time, Pop Will Eat Itself. He had recent left the band and this was the first film he had composed a score for. It would be the first of many greats, many of them for Aronofsky’s future films. The thriller features conspiracies and a chase of sorts but the big difference is that it features madness in the pursuit of knowledge. The film features maths but it is in fact about God – an ongoing theme in most of Aronofsky’s work. Sean Gullette plays the story's protagonist Max Cohen and also narrates. Unemployed and living in a drab Chinatown apartment in New York, Max is a number theorist who believes that everything in nature can be understood through numbers. Max suffers from cluster headaches (also known as Suicide Headaches due to their unbearable nature), as well as extreme paranoia, hallucinations and social anxiety disorder. His only social interactions are with Jenna, a young girl who is fascinated with his ability to calculate large numbers in his head; Devi, a young woman living next door who sometimes speaks to him; and Sol Robeson, his old mathematics mentor who is now an invalid. Max tries programming his computer, called Euclid, to make stock predictions. In the middle of printing out its picks, Euclid prints out a seemingly random 216-digit number, as well as a single pick at one-tenth its current value, then crashes. Disgusted, Max tosses the printout away. The next morning, he checks the financial pages and sees that the pick Euclid made was accurate. He searches desperately for the printout but cannot find it. Sol becomes unnerved when Max mentions the number, asking if it contained 216 digits. When Max questions him about the number, Sol indicates that he came across it many years ago. He urges Max to slow down and take a break. At his local coffee shop, Max meets Lenny Meyer, a Hasidic Jew who coincidentally does mathematical research on the Torah. Lenny demonstrates some simple Gematria, the correspondence of the Hebrew alphabet to numbers, and explains how some people believe that the Torah is a string of numbers that form a code sent by God. Max takes an interest when he realizes that some of the number concepts Lenny discusses are similar to other mathematical concepts, such as the Fibonacci sequence. Max is also approached by agents of a Wall Street firm; one of the agents, Marcy Dawson, offers Max a classified computer chip called "Ming Mecca" in exchange for the results of his work. Using the chip, Max has Euclid analyze mathematical patterns in the Torah. Once again, Euclid shows the 216-digit number on the screen before crashing. As he begins to write down the number, Max realizes that he knows the pattern, undergoes a sudden epiphany and passes out. After waking up, Max appears to become clairvoyant and is able to visualize the stock market patterns he had been searching for. However, his headaches also increase in intensity, and he discovers a strange vein-like bulge protruding from his right temple. Max has a falling out with Sol after the latter urges him to quit his work. One evening, Dawson and her agents grab Max on the street and try to force him to explain the number. They had found the original printout Max threw away and had been trying to use it to manipulate the stock market in their favor; however, they caused the market to crash. Lenny drives by and manages to get Max away from them. However, Lenny takes Max to his companions, who want Max to give them the number. At a nearby synagogue, they reveal their intentions: they believe the 216-digit number was meant for them to bring about the messianic age, as the number represents the unspeakable name of God. Max refuses, insisting that whatever the source of the number is, it has been revealed to him alone. Max flees and tries to visit Sol, only to find out from his daughter, Jenny, that he has just died from another stroke. Searching Sol's apartment, Max eventually finds a piece of paper with the number. Back in his own apartment, Max experiences another headache, but resists the urge to take his painkillers. Driven to the brink of madness, he destroys part of Euclid. Believing that the number and the headaches are linked, Max tries to concentrate on the number through the pain. After passing out, Max has a vision of himself standing in a white void and repeating the digits of the number. The vision ends with Max hugging Devi, who turns out to be a hallucination. Standing alone in his trashed apartment, Max burns the paper with the number and blithely performs an impromptu trepanning (a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater – classically done to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases or release pressured blood buildup from an injury) on himself in the right cerebral hemisphere with a power drill. Some time later, Jenna approaches Max in a park and asks him to do several calculations, including 748 ÷ 238, which is an approximation for Pi. Max smiles and says that he doesn't know the answer to them. He sits on the bench and watches the trees blowing in the breeze, seemingly at peace. The ending is open to interpretation and I’ve always found it pleasingly troublesome. Knowledge is power but is it really trying to suggest ignorance is bliss? I fear it may be a little more religious and ‘faith’ driven but in all honesty my opinion changes with each viewing. I like to think it is about a troubled genius who manages to escape the clutches of chaos theory. Either way, it’s a beautifully filmed intelligent thriller, with a killer soundtrack and an awesome performance. My favorite pop star also has a cameo. It’s the sort of film I can only dream of making and as much as I love it, I hated Aronofsky for coming up with the idea instead of me.