This is a very quirky movie--kind of a 'Being Paul Giamatti', because throughout the film, he is himself. He is an actor who is having a fair amount of trouble with a role he is playing, and decides that he needs less soul to play it. He reads about people extracting their souls in a lengthy New Yorker article and decides to investigate. He is not interested in getting rid of his sol forever. Just for the duration of the play.
He is skeptical at first about the success of soul removal. As are we. But the whole place is very professional, the staff really seem to know what they are doing,and the process is explained so matter-of-factly that it is harad not to start thinking it might just be possible. Meanwhile, there is a subplot brewing, with souls in Russia being purchased at rock bottom prices and then sold into the U.S. market--for those who don't have one and need to crack into a creative talent. Why get an MFA when you can purchase a tortured soul?
Giamatti finds that while he is less anxious without his soul, he is no better at the part--so he decides to try a Russian soul for his role in the Chekhov play 'Uncle Vanya'. And it works alright. He is channeling Vanya now--but he can't stand it--he is tortured. And so he goes about the process of recapturing his own soul. Giamatti is terrific as is Emily Watson as his wife.
Underneath the dark comic exterior of this movie are the eternal questions of who are we and what makes us that way. Food for thought.
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