The film ‘Upside Down’ opens with these words: “The universe, so full of wonders, I can spend hours and hours looking up to the sky … so many stars … so many mysteries. And there is one very special star that makes me think of one very special person … and now let me tell you my story.”
‘Upside Down’ is a sci-fi love story, a romantic fantasy, where a boy and girl fall in love with each other, but their love is not just separated by social class or political system but by astronomical odds. Yes, Adam (Jim Sturgess) lives in a world that has a twin and neighboring world with an equal and opposite gravitational pull from where Eden (Kirsten Dunst) is from.
The two worlds are so close that their mountain peaks almost touch each other. Adam belongs to the poverty-stricken planet below, while Eden is from the wealthy world above. Other than the love angle, the film also deals with the political situation where the wealthy “Up Top” uses a channel, a towering headquarter, connecting each other, to exploit the resources of “Down Below” while employing people from down below.
Coming back to the love story, as per the film, here are the three basic laws of Double Gravity:
- Every single object is pulled by the gravity of the world it comes from and not the other.
- Objects weight can be upset using matter from the opposite world (inverse matter).
- However, after a few hours of contact – matter in contact with inverse matter burns.
Defying all odds, Adam and Eden used to meet on a mountain peak using a rope but when they are caught by the border patrolling force, Eden falls back to her planet hitting her head resulting in amnesia.
Years pass and Adam gets a job in the TransWorld mega-corporation, whose headquarter joins both the worlds. One night, Adam saw Eden on TV and got to know that she is also working in the same firm. From then onwards, he tries to meet Eden and tries to remind her of what they used to have, as Eden had lost her memory from that accident.
So, what happens later is all to watch. Honestly, ‘Upside Down’ does not have a great story; however, it is visually stunning. If you don’t think much about physics and universal laws; only watch it to know if LOVE is stronger than GRAVITY. Nevertheless, narration or storytelling could have been much better.
Watch the trailer here for ‘Upside Down‘
Written and Directed by Juan Diego Solanas
Starring: Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst
Music by: Benoît Charest and Sigur Rós
Cinematography Pierre Gill
Release Date/Year: 31 August 2012 (Canada); 17 April 2013 (France)
Where to watch Upside Down (2012)
