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''21 Grams'' is a 2003 American
crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
film directed by
Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu (born 15 August 1963) is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama (film genre), psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include ''Amores perros ...
and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It is the second installment in the duo’s informal “Trilogy of Death,” preceded by ''Amores perros'' (2000) and followed by '' Babel'' (2006). The film features an
ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...
including
Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...
, Naomi Watts,
Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (; born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican actor. List of awards and nominations received by Benicio del Toro, His accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy ...
, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and
Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an American-British actor, director and screenwriter. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for ...
. The narrative centers on the emotional and psychological aftermath of a tragic hit-and-run accident, exploring the intersecting lives of a terminally ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a reformed ex-convict grappling with his faith. The film employs a
nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...
structure, presenting the characters' past, present, and future in fragmented sequences that gradually converge as the story unfolds. It premiered at the
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
before receiving a
limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on November 21, 2003, followed by a wider release in early 2004. ''21 Grams'' received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised Iñárritu’s direction, Arriaga’s screenplay, and the performances of Watts and Del Toro. The film was a moderate box office success, grossing $60.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $20 million. At the
76th Academy Awards The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2003 in film, films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood ...
, Watts and Del Toro received nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.


Plot

Jack Jordan is a reformed ex-convict and recovering addict who has embraced
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
to overcome his struggles with
drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...
and
alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per ...
. Paul Rivers is a
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
professor suffering from a terminal heart condition, and unless he receives a transplant, he has only weeks to live. His wife, Mary, wishes to conceive a child through
artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...
so she can raise their child even if Paul dies. Meanwhile, Cristina Peck is a former drug addict who has built a stable life with her husband and two young daughters in the suburbs, remaining active and committed to sobriety. Their lives intersect one evening when Jack, driving without a license, fatally strikes Cristina’s husband and two daughters in a hit-and-run accident. The heart of Cristina’s husband is transplanted into Paul, giving him a second chance at life. Cristina, devastated by the loss, relapses into substance abuse. Paul attempts to resume normal life and reluctantly agrees to his wife's plan for insemination but later learns she had an
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
during a previous separation. Feeling betrayed, Paul ends the relationship. Haunted by guilt, Jack relapses into substance use. His wife urges him to keep silent, but Jack insists on turning himself in, believing it is his spiritual duty. While incarcerated, he becomes despondent, disavows his faith, and attempts
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. He is released when Cristina chooses not to press charges, recognizing that punishing him will not restore her family. Jack leaves his family and becomes a drifter, working in manual labor. Driven by curiosity, Paul hires a private investigator to trace the donor of his new heart and discovers Cristina’s identity. He begins following her and eventually approaches her. After an initial outburst, Cristina begins a relationship with Paul, and the two grow emotionally dependent on each other. However, Paul's new heart begins to fail, and he is told his body is rejecting the transplant. As Cristina becomes increasingly consumed by grief and a desire for retribution, she persuades Paul to murder Jack. Paul obtains a gun and locates Jack, who is living in a motel. He confronts him in a clearing but is unable to go through with the killing. He fires warning shots into the ground and tells Jack to disappear. Paul lies to Cristina about Jack’s death. Later that night, Jack appears at their motel, pleading for Paul to kill him. A struggle breaks out; Cristina attacks Jack with a lamp, and in the chaos, Paul accidentally shoots himself. Cristina and Jack rush Paul to the hospital. Jack confesses to the police that he shot Paul, but with no evidence, he is released. Paul dies from his injuries. Cristina, at the hospital, learns she is pregnant and is urged to stop using drugs. In the final scenes, Cristina is shown preparing for the baby in her late daughter’s bedroom, which she had previously been unable to enter, while Jack is seen returning to his family.


Cast

*
Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...
as Paul Rivers * Naomi Watts as Cristina Peck *
Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (; born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican actor. List of awards and nominations received by Benicio del Toro, His accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy ...
as Jack Jordan * Charlotte Gainsbourg as Mary Rivers * Melissa Leo as Marianne Jordan *
Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an American-British actor, director and screenwriter. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for ...
as Michael *
Pamela Blair Pamela Blair (December 5, 1949 – July 23, 2023) was an American actress best known for originating the role of Val in the musical ''A Chorus Line'' and several appearances on American soap operas. Early life and career Born in Bennington, V ...
as Doctor * John Rubinstein as Gynecologist *
Clea DuVall Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall (born September 25, 1977) is an American actress, director and screenwriter. Her film appearances include ''The Faculty'' (1998); ''But I'm a Cheerleader''; ''Girl, Interrupted (film), Girl, Interrupted'' (both ...
as Claudia * Eddie Marsan as Reverend John


Cinematic technique

''21 Grams'' is noted for its distinct visual style, achieved through a combination of gritty hand-held cinematography, the use of the bleach bypass process, and varied
color grading Color grading is a post-production process common to filmmaking and video editing of altering the appearance of an image for presentation in different environments on different devices. Various attributes of an image such as contrast (vision), ...
. These techniques were employed to differentiate the film's three interwoven storylines and to visually reflect shifts in the characters' emotional and psychological states. Given the film’s
nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...
structure, these visual cues helped viewers situate scenes within the broader chronology. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto explained in an interview with ''American Cinematographer'' that color palettes were assigned to each main character: Paul’s story was rendered with cool tones, Jack’s with warm tones, and Cristina’s with more neutral hues. Different
film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...
s were used throughout the film to create distinct grain structures that evolved with the characters’ arcs—finer grain was used during more hopeful moments, while heavier grain appeared as their situations became more complex. Extensive testing was required to refine the interplay of color palettes, lighting, and wardrobe with the bleach bypass process. Prieto noted that the film’s final visual scheme emerged through experimentation rather than pre-planning, stating, “We couldn't take anything for granted—we were surprised by the test results every time.” Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu (born 15 August 1963) is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama (film genre), psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include ''Amores perros ...
and Prieto aimed for an organic and immersive camerawork style. Handheld cameras were used exclusively, even for static shots, to convey a sense of immediacy and physical presence. The camera was deliberately unstable at times, and framing choices were often unbalanced—with excessive or insufficient headroom—designed to mirror the characters’ internal disorientation. In emotionally intense scenes, characters are frequently shown in wide shots and positioned at the edges of the frame, a technique Prieto referred to as using “abandoning angles,” to emphasize feelings of isolation.


Title

The film’s title refers to the so-called " 21 grams experiment" conducted in 1907 by physician Duncan MacDougall, who attempted to scientifically determine the weight of the human
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
. MacDougall claimed that the human body lost approximately 21 grams—equivalent to three-fourths of an ounce—at the moment of death, attributing this weight loss to the soul leaving the body. Although the experiment is widely regarded by the scientific community as methodologically flawed and lacking in credibility, it has contributed to the popular notion that the soul weighs 21 grams.


Reception


Box office

''21 Grams'' had a production budget of approximately $20 million. It grossed $16.3 million in the United States and Canada and $44.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $60.5 million.


Critical response

''21 Grams'' received generally favorable reviews from critics, with particular praise for its emotionally charged performances, innovative narrative structure, and direction by
Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu (born 15 August 1963) is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama (film genre), psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include ''Amores perros ...
. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an 80% approval rating based on 178 reviews, with an average score of 7.50/10. The site’s consensus reads: "Iñárritu deftly weaves an uncommonly structured narrative with panache in ''21 Grams'', a stylish, haunting drama full of fine performances." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, it has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Critics consistently singled out the performances of Naomi Watts,
Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (; born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican actor. List of awards and nominations received by Benicio del Toro, His accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy ...
, and
Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...
for acclaim.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
awarded the film four stars, calling it “one of the most depressing” yet “also one of the most absorbing and beautifully made” films of its time. He added, “It grips us, moves us, astonishes us.” Elvis Mitchell of ''The New York Times'' praised the acting and described the film as a “metaphysical puzzle that works as deeply felt tragedy.”
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
of ''Rolling Stone'' described ''21 Grams'' as “a brutal, erotic and achingly tender dance of death,” adding that Del Toro’s “astonishing” performance anchors the film’s intensity. ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' highlighted the “searing emotion and layered performance” delivered by Watts, stating she gives “a performance of raw emotional intensity.” James Berardinelli of ''ReelViews'' commended the film's structural daring, writing that "''21 Grams'' is a stunning kaleidoscope of a motion picture" with a payoff that justifies its narrative complexity. Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' remarked on the film’s poetic structure, calling it "a symphony of jagged fragments." He praised Iñárritu for "taking the grammar of narrative cinema into new terrain." In contrast, some critics were more reserved. Ed Gonzalez of ''Slant Magazine'' criticized the time-shifting format, arguing that it “uses fragmentation not for illumination but to obscure manipulative melodrama.” ''
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
'' called the structure “tricksy” but acknowledged the strong performances, particularly Del Toro’s. ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' highlighted the film's visual style and emotionally engaging storytelling, despite its “unrelenting bleakness.” ''The Independent'' called the film “gripping and heartbreaking,” noting its willingness to “confront tragedy without sentimentality.” ''Common Sense Media'' offered a mixed view, praising the acting but warning that its nonlinear narrative and dark subject matter may not appeal to all viewers.


Accolades


See also

* Hyperlink cinema – the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines. * List of films about mathematicians


References


External links

* – archived fro
the original
on March 31, 2019 * * *

from
American Cinematographer The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinem ...

The science behind ''21 Grams''
at ABC Online {{DEFAULTSORT:21 Grams 2003 films 2003 crime drama films 2003 crime thriller films 2003 independent films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American anthology films American crime drama films American crime thriller films American nonlinear narrative films English-language crime drama films English-language crime thriller films English-language independent films Films about grief Films about mathematics Films about suicide Films directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu Films scored by Gustavo Santaolalla Films shot in New Mexico Films shot in Tennessee Films with screenplays by Guillermo Arriaga Focus Features films Hyperlink films Icon Productions films Satellite Award–winning films