James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence is a sci-fi thriller film that touches on the issues of freewill and fate. It reveals how we are victims of our own ignorance, searching for ways at each juncture to unveil the most powerful truth to ourselves only to miss the mark like Zeno’s paradox. And what we don’t know is that quantum physics speaks of million of selves living in million of universes recreating million of choices and projecting them into million versions of our subatomically-altered lives. Or more. And what if this veil is lifted? What if by meeting these alternates we unleash a cacophony of fear, dread and confusion instead of love, understanding and compassion? That, my friends, is the meaning of Coherence, and it happens the night Comet Miller passes overhead…
INT. EMILY’S CAR – NIGHT
EMILY is driving down a suburban street while talking to her boyfriend KEVIN on the phone. Her screen cracks. She gasps. She’s heard rumours that Comet Miller is passing overhead tonight and that weird things could happen…
When she arrives at Mike and Beth’s home, we find out that she’s attending a reunion dinner party with seven other friends. Beth is already there but Hugh, Kevin and Amir will be coming shortly. To complicate matters, Amir’s bringing a new date, Laurie, who used to be Kevin’s old flame. This shocks Emily knowing that her relationship with Kevin is already on the rocks. Laurie is an unwanted complication at best.
Her friends show up and everything goes well: They talk a lot, joke around like old times and tell each other work stories until Laurie just happens to zero in on Emily’s sad story about losing the main role in her dance production to another dancer. Emily, it seems, was offered the understudy role in a production she created. So she refused. But, it turned out that the dancer chosen to replace her couldn’t perform so the understudy replacing Emily got famous instead.
EMILY
Svetlana ended up pulling out in the
last minute and Kathryn ended up
doing the show.
LAURIE
So she basically stole your whole thing.
Kathryn Merris has your whole life.
A tactless remark that could be only mitigated by the lights going out. What happens next is nothing short of bizarre as the group of friends are forced to face quantum physics like never before. As stated earlier, quantum physics claims that other timelines exist and each of them is a little different than the rest. With an infinite amount of variations, there is bound to be extremes along the way. Realizing this, the friends get scared over their worse selves attacking them. But they also are completely unaware that every time they leave the house, they in effect get sent to another timeline with no chance of return.
This shift is enough to freak anyone out. It’s going through a set of revolving doors only to end up with a group of people that only look like your friends. In truth, their past is slightly different which could mean big changes in who they are. Even worse, you have memories from a completely different timeline. This isn’t the place you want to end up on the Night of the Comet.
That’s why Hugh’s brother – who knows about comets and other odd phenomena – warns him to stay inside. But they don’t, and as they get mixed up, more conflict and mayhem ensues. Before the night is out, everyone is murderously angry with each other knowing that the person next to them is an interdimensional version of their friend.
Emily tries to escape into a calmer, gentler timeline. Apparently in this one, the friends didn’t venture outside so they’re not losing themselves to paranoia like the others. Unfortunately, our Emily is bad news for them because she attempts to kill her counterpart and take her place. But things don’t work out. Despite blows to the head by a ceramic toilet cover, this other Emily doesn’t die and confronts her intruder-Emily the next morning. This Emily calls Kevin in the morning to alert him to the imposter. This leaves our Emily exposed and vulnerable to her alternate friends in an alternate universe where she will be alone and despised.
This is masterful storytelling. It’s really about a dreadful night where humans are forced come to grips with a much larger universe that includes different versions of themselves. It reminds me of Adam and Eve, where Adam is thrown into his new world that God points out is a lot of work. And to take this mythological analogy even further, Adam and Eve bear Cain and Abel who happen to also commit murder the first time too. Cain, noticing that God has taken a better liking to Abel, kills him out of jealousy just like Emily kills her counterpart because she’s got a better life. It’s science fiction. Where would it be without the Creation Myth somewhere?
Keep in mind that compared to everyone in Coherence, Emily is the most developed character. The film starts with her and ends with her. It even begins and ends with her talking on the phone with Kevin. Overall, we know more about Emily’s adversity than anyone else and that’s why we have a stronger connection with her plight. We like her more. What’s more interesting is how Emily’s life supports the general theme of the story too. It wasn’t Emily’s fault for not getting famous. Most artists would leave if they got demoted to an understudy role for the production they created. And who knew that the new dancer would pull out and give the new understudy such an opportunity. This sub-story lends some reinforcement to the overall theme that coherence is just as much about what other people do to you rather than just the consequences of your choices. Take a look at what Emily did. She took back what was hers on a night where she should have gotten away with it. But did she?
The entire film is about choices and consequences albeit on a cosmic scale. We must accept what happens to us even when it is bad luck. We believe in free will but perhaps it’s unity we’re after. Or, another word, coherence. Is life really just about your choices or about the choices of others instead? Is Emily to blame for not getting famous or the producers who kicked her out? In another example, when Mike finds out about coherence, he tells everyone that the other Mike is probably homicidal when drunk, so they should all be afraid. Coherence and life is about other people’s choices too. Not just the consequences of our own.
James Ward Byrkit’s storytelling craft is both interesting and educational. Although the film is evenly distributed among eight characters, Emily still has a heavier role. But her lead doesn’t change the plot as much as adds much-needed architecture to it. As the audience, we simply need one character to stand above the rest to create a stronger story structure. This gives is a harder spine which allows us to place other events in a way that’s easier to enjoy and remember. Other characters like Mike, Hugh, Kevin and Laurie have some extra weight too whereas Beth, Amir and Lee contribute next to nothing although Beth does makes for an interesting New Age chick. This helps, but not to the degree of structure that Emily provides.
One last note: There was no script for this film. The dialogue was improvised. The actors and director deserve credit for pulling this off. It was seamless, fun to watch and easier to relate to characters that were spontaneous and vulnerable at the same time.
Well done, James Ward Byrkit!