21 Grams
Short description
21 Grams follows three strangers whose lives collide after a road accident. Paul Rivers is a seriously ill mathematician awaiting a heart transplant while his marriage to Mary, an Englishwoman, has grown distant. Cristina Peck is a suburban mother of two rebuilding her life after a troubled past. Jack Jordan, a born-again former convict, is driving home for his birthday when his car strikes and kills a father and his two young daughters, after which he flees the scene. The aftermath pulls all three toward one another, with guilt, grief and a donated organ binding their fates.
Alejandro González Iñárritu directed from a screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga, producing alongside Robert Salerno. It is the fourth of thirteen films he has directed in chronological order, arriving between September 11 and Babel. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Danny Huston and Melissa Leo lead a credited cast of fifty-four, supported by a crew of one hundred and twelve. Made for about twenty million dollars, the film took roughly sixty million worldwide, a strong return for a downbeat drama.
On IMDb it holds 7.6 from over 253,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.3 from around 3,500 votes, while its critics' rating stands at 7.9 from 177 reviews, indicating broad approval on both sides.
What's left behind the scenes
- Naomi Watts agreed to take on the role without even reading the script.
- During the scene in which Jack Jordan attempts to hang himself, he is saved by a prisoner with a large tattoo on his chest – "Maria Eladia." This is the name of the director Alejandro González Iñárritu's wife, to whom the film is actually dedicated.
- Filming took place in chronological order, although the events in the film itself are jumbled.
- Catherine Cartledge initially auditioned for the role of Marianne, but she died shortly before filming began. Then Melissa Leo, who had previously auditioned for the same role, was invited to audition again and landed the part in the film.
- The title of the film is borrowed from the works of Dr. Duncan MacDougall in the early 20th century. MacDougall weighed patients as they were dying, both before and after their actual death, attempting to prove that the soul is material and can even be weighed. In reality, the results of these studies were quite controversial, but the idea that a human soul weighs exactly 21 grams has firmly taken root in the public consciousness.
- Practically all the shots in the film were filmed using inexpensive handheld cameras.
- Filming took place from December 5, 2002, to February 2003.
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