Scene Description Spotlight: “Gattaca”

The 1997 movie Gattaca is one many Go Into The Story readers have commented on with great affection, either publicly or to me via email.

Here is the movie’s plot synopsis per IMDb:

Vincent is one of the last “natural” babies born into a sterile, genetically-enhanced world, where life expectancy and disease likelihood are ascertained at birth. Myopic and due to die at 30, he has no chance of a career in a society that now discriminates against your genes, instead of your gender, race or religion. Going underground, he assumes the identity of Jerome, crippled in an accident, and achieves prominence in the Gattaca Corporation, where he is selected for his lifelong desire: a manned mission to Saturn. Constantly passing gene tests by diligently using samples of Jerome’s hair, skin, blood and urine, his now-perfect world is thrown into increasing desperation, his dream within reach, when the mission director is killed — and he carelessly loses an eyelash at the scene! Certain that they know the murderer’s ID, but unable to track down the former Vincent, the police start to close in, with extra searches, and new gene tests. With the once-in-a-lifetime launch only days away, Vincent must avoid arousing suspicion, while passing the tests, evading the police, and not knowing whom he can trust…

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, the screenplay is a good read. Here are the script’s opening few pages.

Note how Nichol uses scene description to create images that lure the reader into thinking one thing, then changing their perception so they then can see the truth:

• Elephant tusks are actually human fingernails
• Tree trunks actually hair follicles
• Firewood actually whiskers
• Slate actually flakes of skin
• What looks like a shower actually an incinerator.

This theme — appearance and reality — is central to the story in Gattaca, thus the script’s first few pages do an excellent job introducing that core concept.

For the record, the first quote (William O. Douglas) is changed in the movie to a verse from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Consider God’s handiwork; who can straighten
what He hath made crooked?”

Here’s how the opening plays in the movie:

All you Gattaca fans, now’s the chance to rave on the film.

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