A brilliant scientist's discovery renders him invisible, but transforms him into an omnipotent, dangerous megalomaniac.
EN
“Verhoeven draws his inspiration from a number of literary sources. T.S. Eliot's poem The hollow men, about the desolation and emptiness of humanity, resonates throughout, as does Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus. Caine's pact, however, is not made with the devil but science, whose mastery allows him to play God. Verhoeven's interest is in what happens when civilised mores are removed and an individual is no longer pressured to abide by social rules. As Caine's body disappears, so does the social contract that binds him to society. Discussing Plato's commentary on the question of invisibility (from Republic, Book II), Verhoeven notes that: ‘morality was not inside us; it is defined by what others know and expect of us... He [Plato] said an invisible person would become intoxicated with power, and abuse it simply because he could get away with it. He would steal, and he would enter homes and rape and kill at will. Plato suggested there is no universal moral code inside us that leads us to being good and just.’”
Angela Ndalianis1
“Roger Ebert […] dismissed it as "just a slasher film with a science gimmick." Far more than simply a gimmick, though, the elaborate treatment of invisibility here effectively illustrates the problem Virilio describes. By linking invisibility to the military and showing, through state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery, the horrific potential of such a development, the film graphically warns of how we might literally be turned into ‘invisible weapons,’ while it also tries to ‘make things visible’ for us: to help us understand the dangerous spectacle-viewer relationship on which much of postmodern culture—and, ironically, much of our cinematic pleasure—hinges.”
Jay Telotte2
FR
« Prenant à contre-pied la logique de disparition du personnage qui préside en général à la mise en scène de cette figure mystérieuse, depuis au moins le célèbre classique de James Whale (L'homme invisible, 1933) Paul Verhoeven consacre principalement son film à la mise en image de ses apparitions et réapparitions. De ce point de vue, Hollow Man est une satire possible du cinéma hollywoodien des années 1990 et 2000 qui fait du trucage numérique un fier motif d'exhibition, jetant à la figure du spectateur la maîtrise du nouvel outil infographique en l'invitant à s'extasier de ce nouveau prodige technologique (le film à effets spéciaux de ces décennies hautes en couleur, par son désir manifeste de stupéfaction du public, rappelle à bien des égards le film à trucs du début du siècle passé). Verhoeven recourt à un déluge d'effets numériques, fait exceller les artisans de l'imagerie 3D des studios de Sony Pictures Imageworks et engloutit 50 millions de dollars, soit un peu plus de la moitié du budget total du film, dans les trucages pour filmer un homme invisible... »
Dick Tomasovic1
- 1Dick Tomasovic, “La peur du vide. A propos de Hollow Man de Paul Verhoeven,” La Septième obsession 35 (2021).
