Mr. Nobody

A 2009 Science Fiction /Fantasy/Romance/Surrealist/Unclassifiable film.

Jared Leto plays Nemo Nobody, the last mortal human in a future (specifically, 2092) where advancements in medical technology have cured us of the processes of old age and death. Nemo is 118 years old, and between psych examinations and an unofficial interview, he has quite the story(s) to tell ...

One of those inexplicably unmarketed but impressively high-budget hidden treasures, the film was made in Europe in 2009 and finally released North America, on disc, in 2011. It has not been widely seen yet, but hope for a cult hit springs eternal. Also starring Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley, Linh-Dan Pham, Rhys Ifans, Toby Regbo and Juno Temple.

Tropes used in Mr. Nobody include:

• Absurdity Ascendant
• Alliterative Name
• Anachronic Order: Even though we see Nemo's lives unfold mostly linear, then and again the story jumps back and forth in years. See also Flash Sideways.
• At the Crossroads: The train station where young Nemo has to decide with which parent he wants to go.
• Awesome McCoolname: Nemo Nobody
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: A lot.
  • Nemo and Anna reuniting at the train station.
• Cursed with Awesome: Nemo being able to remember possible futures. As Anna put it, "It doesn't seem like it can be much fun knowing what's going to happen." But its played with, seeing as this helped him make his decision in the end.
• Dreaming of Things to Come
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Says Nemo: "We screwed! Everybody was always screwing." Evidence to that is shown later in the movie at various points.
• Everything Is an iPod In The Future: Nemo's hospital room, for starters. The sleeper ship as well.
• Facial Markings: The psychologist Dr. Feldheimer. He might as well be a Sith.
  • Or a Maori. Maybe in this future it's a common fashion trend, "Neo-Aboriginalism" or something of the sort.
• Flash Back: The whole movie.
• Flash Forward: The whole movie! It Makes Sense in Context.
• Flash Sideways: In one instance, at the start of the movie, the timelines are interacting. "Sun hurts my eyes." is said by two of his loves (Elise and Jean) in different timelines and he seems to realize that. Also, Jean!Nemo misremembers the names of his children as those of Elise!Nemo. Then Elise!Nemo gets a photograph in the mail of Jean!Nemo with Jean and their children. But then Old!Nemo wakes up.
  • Also, the story often jumps from one timeline/branch to another where Nemo is the same age.
• Flirty Stepsiblings: Nemo and Anna. And how!
• For Want of a Nail: Explored:
  • Nemo's dad could have not been born.
  • Nemo's parents could have met or not.
  • Did Nemo call Anna's friends idiots or not?
  • Did Nemo's motorcycle crash or not?
• First Dance Marriage: Jean
• Framing Device: The old man's memories, which are actually covertly framed by the young boy's visions/imagination.
• The Future
• Futuristic Superhighway
• Genre Busting: Lets see ... scifi, fantasy, love story, drama, comedy, tragedy, coming of age, mystery, experimental film ...
• Human Popsicle: Standard procedure for a voyage to Mars.
• Immortality: Seemingly Type II or III.
• Immortality Immorality: Certainly touched upon in other members of the future society.
• Omniscient Hero: Nemo is a rare sympathetic example, and it is explored quite well what this means for him.
• I Will Wait for You: Nemo and Anna. And how. Oh man.
• Needs More Love: Mr. Nobody is a quite unusual movie. Outside of Belgium the movie was very poorly marketed, if at all. In Canada, it came out the same weekend as Inception. It wasn't even released in theaters in the U.S. Conversely, very few people saw the film.
• Nested Story: Let's see: young Nemo remembers/envisions him being old Nemo telling the stories of his life to two guys, among those memories the story of him writing a story of himself going to Mars which apparently actually happens later in his life in one of the branches.
• Motif:
  • Each of Nemo's 3 possible love interests has a color assigned to them, as seen by their clothes from the very first time we see them, the flowers at their marriage etc.:
    • Anna: Red
    • Elise: Blue
    • Jean: Yellow
  • The train tracks are shown at various times to visualize the once again branching timelines
• Multiple Endings: Presumable Nemo's life somehow has them simultaneously.
• The Red Planet
• Schrödinger's Butterfly: Which Nemo is the one existing right now -- the old one remembering the past or the young one remembering the future?
• Space Clothes
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Nemo and Anna at times seem to be this, whenever life separates them again
  • Love Transcends Spacetime: But time and time and in the end as well Love wins!
• Take a Third Option: The path Nemo takes in the end ... or at least it could be.
• Tear Jerker
• Temporal Mutability: Of the branching timelines variety, but from the past looking into possible futures.
• Their First Time: Anna and Nemo. No planning shown, and no talking needed. So naturally, they succeed.
• Time Travel:
  • Mental Time Travel & Intangible Time Travel: Young Nemo has visions of potential futures, branching out with each decision. He at the same time lives through everything and observes it, but is physically still at the train station weighing the decision.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Nemo's dissatisfaction the with the future's lack of cigarettes, edible meat, and the physical act of lovemaking, despite the end of decrepitude and death.
• We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: In The Future, manual labor is apparently still needed to produce simple bicyles, and cheaper on Mars than in China. Go figure!
• X Meets Y: Donnie Darko meets Benjamin Button, but that's a gross oversimplification.