Earth and Mars are as distant from one another as an old musician and a young muse, and the conquest of the Red Planet is put in parallel with the discovery of love and of the female body. Symbolically linking science and art, Villeneuve's film is an allegorical romance of late love, exploration of the unknown and selfless sacrifice.
The idea that music can open the gates of the universe, as described by Johannes Kepler and his work Harmonices Mundi in 1619, inspired Villeneuve. According to Kepler, the harmony of the universe is determined by the motion of celestial bodies. This theory also influenced American horror master H. P. Lovecraft in the 20s, but Villeneuve, however, gives it positive connotations as the topography of Mars corresponds to the shape of a musical instrument, suggesting that the ambivalent "Red Planet" can only be conquered through music rather than with the "Marsonautes" whose broadcast mission is probably just a hoax. Yet it cannot be objectively verified because reality depends entirely on the observer, therefore observations and dreams about Mars cannot be separated. In the lecture that Eugène Spaak gives to the Society of Experimental Cosmology, he says that Mars does not actually exist, it is only a subjective construct, but his fellow scientists do not take him seriously. In fact, how can one talk about reality when his head is nothing but a hologram? This funny and symbolic mean works in the context of Villeneuve's movie well enough that it is hard to believe that it was an emergency solution to Robert Lepage's crazy agenda (Eugène Spaak's body belongs to another actor, Jean Asselin, who also plays the robot bartender).
The photographer Avril, who takes long exposures of people to feed her personal obsession with the idea of emptiness, has herself figuratively and literally lost her breath. It is no coincidence that she then falls in love with a man who enjoys the strength of his powerful lungs despite his old age. As Avril (April)'s name suggests, she should have been born in April, but was born prematurely in March (in French "mars"). Therefore, when Eugène produces a master instrument according to the curves of her body, Jacob fails to produce music out of it. In fact, how can the musician play with the instrument shaped after his muse, as she is short of breath and inextricably linked with the "discordant" planet Mars? When he enters with Avril into the teleportation device, the next station brings Avril to Mars, but Jacob remains on his home planet and meets with the Marsonautes in their studio. Arthur and Jacob, the two rivals in love, are set by Eugène on a rescue mission, and like the biblical Jonah in the belly of the whale, they find themselves in the bowels of the musical instrument, representing both Avril and the planet Mars. Into their subconscious, they are mere archetypes reduced to a single meaning: Arthur (the designer) observes and Jacob (the musician) breathes. In this key sequence from the film, the human mind is the ultimate instrument.
Just like the musical instrument, the teleportation device has a malfunction, and it is clear that Villeneuve here establishes another parallel between music and science. The unit can only be operated from the outside, just like the wind in a musical instrument goes one way, therefore you cannot go back to Earth until somebody else stays behind and has your back. Jacob sacrifices himself and will later give his lungs to Avril for her to breathe again. The parallel between the muse, the instrument, the musician and the teleportation device then becomes clear, especially after Jacob's farewell concert in which he is at once able to play the instrument instead of producing just air.
The idea that music can open the gates of the universe, as described by Johannes Kepler and his work Harmonices Mundi in 1619, inspired Villeneuve. According to Kepler, the harmony of the universe is determined by the motion of celestial bodies. This theory also influenced American horror master H. P. Lovecraft in the 20s, but Villeneuve, however, gives it positive connotations as the topography of Mars corresponds to the shape of a musical instrument, suggesting that the ambivalent "Red Planet" can only be conquered through music rather than with the "Marsonautes" whose broadcast mission is probably just a hoax. Yet it cannot be objectively verified because reality depends entirely on the observer, therefore observations and dreams about Mars cannot be separated. In the lecture that Eugène Spaak gives to the Society of Experimental Cosmology, he says that Mars does not actually exist, it is only a subjective construct, but his fellow scientists do not take him seriously. In fact, how can one talk about reality when his head is nothing but a hologram? This funny and symbolic mean works in the context of Villeneuve's movie well enough that it is hard to believe that it was an emergency solution to Robert Lepage's crazy agenda (Eugène Spaak's body belongs to another actor, Jean Asselin, who also plays the robot bartender).
The photographer Avril, who takes long exposures of people to feed her personal obsession with the idea of emptiness, has herself figuratively and literally lost her breath. It is no coincidence that she then falls in love with a man who enjoys the strength of his powerful lungs despite his old age. As Avril (April)'s name suggests, she should have been born in April, but was born prematurely in March (in French "mars"). Therefore, when Eugène produces a master instrument according to the curves of her body, Jacob fails to produce music out of it. In fact, how can the musician play with the instrument shaped after his muse, as she is short of breath and inextricably linked with the "discordant" planet Mars? When he enters with Avril into the teleportation device, the next station brings Avril to Mars, but Jacob remains on his home planet and meets with the Marsonautes in their studio. Arthur and Jacob, the two rivals in love, are set by Eugène on a rescue mission, and like the biblical Jonah in the belly of the whale, they find themselves in the bowels of the musical instrument, representing both Avril and the planet Mars. Into their subconscious, they are mere archetypes reduced to a single meaning: Arthur (the designer) observes and Jacob (the musician) breathes. In this key sequence from the film, the human mind is the ultimate instrument.
Just like the musical instrument, the teleportation device has a malfunction, and it is clear that Villeneuve here establishes another parallel between music and science. The unit can only be operated from the outside, just like the wind in a musical instrument goes one way, therefore you cannot go back to Earth until somebody else stays behind and has your back. Jacob sacrifices himself and will later give his lungs to Avril for her to breathe again. The parallel between the muse, the instrument, the musician and the teleportation device then becomes clear, especially after Jacob's farewell concert in which he is at once able to play the instrument instead of producing just air.