"La Habitación de Fermat" or "Fermat's Room" to us English speakers, is a Spanish thriller that focuses a great deal around mathematics and problem solving in order a tense sequence of events in its own unique manner. "Fermat's Room" utilises concepts from various sources, in particular there is quite a similarity between it and the American crime-drama that is "Numb3rs", were you to heighten the interpersonal action and tone down the mathematics. It also features an intertwining story line where characters are not always who they appear to be, in a similar manner to those found in films such as "Fight Club" or "Memento". Unfortunately for directors Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña it leads to the film coming across as highly unpolished and indeed somewhat garbled in parts, as it becomes apparent they clearly had their minds determined to include certain set pieces and key moments without any real idea how to properly link them together through the dialogue to create a coherent plot.
Detailing the meet of four strangers under mysterious circumstances and the promise of solving the worlds most complicated enigma, the mathematicians follow a cryptic series of events which leads them to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the country. Of the four we have two young protégé's, a grizzled toy manufacturer and an elderly mathematician who is tired of life and is intrigued by the prospect of one last great outing. They find themselves entering an vibrantly decorated room containing a blackboard, table, chairs, sofa, several bookcases worth of material and each other for company as they await their promised enigma by the elusive "Fermat". What follows is a sequence of events where they find themselves locked in this already claustrophobic room being forced to solve puzzles in under a minute and if failing finding the room closing in on them with the aid of four hydraulic compressors.
As a thriller, "Fermat's" does create moments of genuine tension as the score underlining the enclosing room does set the heart racing in a Hitchcockian ratcheting up of nerves which is superbly conveyed by two of the outstanding four cast members, in Lluís (accent included) Homar and Santi Millán. However, despite the promise "Fermat's Room" never delivers on the expectation and finds itself stumbling along without enough plausible gravitas in the dialogue to make the revelation an open-mouthed experience. Once the games begin the film settles into an all too formulaic pattern of when a puzzle is transmitted, one of the four will "begin working" on it while the other three engage in heightened communications to try and push forward the relationships between the four characters and how they may, or may not, be connected. Lacking the necessary x-factor to thoroughly engage the audience, the film itself also falls foul of an unforgivable sin and that is not being tight enough to make such a far fetched story even remotely believable. The film creates its own plot holes and casually drops in lines, one in particular about "Oliva" enjoying illegal activities yet never following through on what those specific activities are. What is the point in having a character say something which potentially could further the interest in that character only to not provide resolution? If Pascal finds out that Fermat is the father of a daughter he accidentally killed, why does it take the photo of his daughter after he has left the room for him to recognise him? How does the culprit plan on escaping the tightening dungeon when his proposed means of escape is perhaps the least subtle that he could imagine? Why do characters pick up pieces of information which would lead to the identity of the culprit and not follow through? The individuals within do not act with any rationale or reason, especially given their logical backgrounds and lead to an all too frustrating experience, indeed, even more so when one of the problems that is presented within the film is answered incorrectly and that's supposed to be its main selling point.
"Fermat's Room" was and is an unfortunately disappointing experience which promises the viewer a unique thrilling roller-coaster but presents the metaphorical equivalent of a log flume ride, it's "wishy-washy" and all down hill after the start. It is not polished enough to hit the heights that the directors have wished to achieve it comes across too often as set pieces which have been linked together and a nonsensical run of twists and interactions which are underdeveloped or not worth having been developed in the first place. I truly wished to enjoy the experience, yet the more that you think about the film the more it continues to disappoint, not because it is that awful but simply because it had potential to be much more than the sum of its parts. This Spanish thriller sets itself out to be a thinking mans thriller, to attempt to achieve a cinematic comparison to that of a rubix cube yet after serious critical analysis comes across more like a defunct abacus.
Detailing the meet of four strangers under mysterious circumstances and the promise of solving the worlds most complicated enigma, the mathematicians follow a cryptic series of events which leads them to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the country. Of the four we have two young protégé's, a grizzled toy manufacturer and an elderly mathematician who is tired of life and is intrigued by the prospect of one last great outing. They find themselves entering an vibrantly decorated room containing a blackboard, table, chairs, sofa, several bookcases worth of material and each other for company as they await their promised enigma by the elusive "Fermat". What follows is a sequence of events where they find themselves locked in this already claustrophobic room being forced to solve puzzles in under a minute and if failing finding the room closing in on them with the aid of four hydraulic compressors.
As a thriller, "Fermat's" does create moments of genuine tension as the score underlining the enclosing room does set the heart racing in a Hitchcockian ratcheting up of nerves which is superbly conveyed by two of the outstanding four cast members, in Lluís (accent included) Homar and Santi Millán. However, despite the promise "Fermat's Room" never delivers on the expectation and finds itself stumbling along without enough plausible gravitas in the dialogue to make the revelation an open-mouthed experience. Once the games begin the film settles into an all too formulaic pattern of when a puzzle is transmitted, one of the four will "begin working" on it while the other three engage in heightened communications to try and push forward the relationships between the four characters and how they may, or may not, be connected. Lacking the necessary x-factor to thoroughly engage the audience, the film itself also falls foul of an unforgivable sin and that is not being tight enough to make such a far fetched story even remotely believable. The film creates its own plot holes and casually drops in lines, one in particular about "Oliva" enjoying illegal activities yet never following through on what those specific activities are. What is the point in having a character say something which potentially could further the interest in that character only to not provide resolution? If Pascal finds out that Fermat is the father of a daughter he accidentally killed, why does it take the photo of his daughter after he has left the room for him to recognise him? How does the culprit plan on escaping the tightening dungeon when his proposed means of escape is perhaps the least subtle that he could imagine? Why do characters pick up pieces of information which would lead to the identity of the culprit and not follow through? The individuals within do not act with any rationale or reason, especially given their logical backgrounds and lead to an all too frustrating experience, indeed, even more so when one of the problems that is presented within the film is answered incorrectly and that's supposed to be its main selling point.
"Fermat's Room" was and is an unfortunately disappointing experience which promises the viewer a unique thrilling roller-coaster but presents the metaphorical equivalent of a log flume ride, it's "wishy-washy" and all down hill after the start. It is not polished enough to hit the heights that the directors have wished to achieve it comes across too often as set pieces which have been linked together and a nonsensical run of twists and interactions which are underdeveloped or not worth having been developed in the first place. I truly wished to enjoy the experience, yet the more that you think about the film the more it continues to disappoint, not because it is that awful but simply because it had potential to be much more than the sum of its parts. This Spanish thriller sets itself out to be a thinking mans thriller, to attempt to achieve a cinematic comparison to that of a rubix cube yet after serious critical analysis comes across more like a defunct abacus.