Set in a futuristic, fully integrated world of strict breeding laws, marginalized masses and viruses that teach you how to speak Chinese, “Code 46” is like a strange, serenely unsettling nightmare. In the spirit of “Brave New World” and other specimens of dystopic fiction, it questions how an ungainly, imperfect entity such as love can survive in a world where perfection is gospel.

Directed with artsy moodiness by Michael Winterbottom (in this case, “artsy moodiness” means lots of low-lit sets and Coldplay songs), “Code 46” is essentially a tale of unrequited romance along the lines of Noel Coward's “Brief Encounter” (1945).

Tim Robbins (“Mystic River”) is coolly commanding as William, a good-natured company man who flies to Shanghai to investigate the fraudulent use of "papeles" — activity permits issued by a worldwide totalitarian insurance company called the Sphinx. Access and travel between cities is strictly overseen through Sphinx-controlled checkpoints; outside, the "uncovered," or those without papeles, subsist in miserable desert shantytowns.

William’s investigation leads him to Maria (Samantha Morton of “Minority Report”), a closet radical who distributes forged papeles to her friends. High on a "sympathy virus" that affords him near-
psychic mind-reading abilities, William covers up her crimes and embarks on a torrid, dangerous affair with Maria.

Alas, it's not meant to be — since William and Maria have near-identical genomes, the result of widespread cloning, any offspring between them would be in violation of Code 46, a law designed to prevent inbreeding.

Winterbottom and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who previously collaborated on "The Claim" and "24 Hour Party People," leave much to interpretation.

For instance, is William really in love with Maria, or is he brain-fried by the sympathy virus, as one character suggests?

Why does the future sound like a Dave Matthews concert?

And what about the creepy Freudian bit about Maria having the same genotype as William's mother?
Audiences who want solid answers are sure to be mystified by Winterbottom's wistful storytelling, but those who share his sense of poetic displacement (better expressed in Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation") will lap it up.

As a vision of the future, "Code 46" is arresting, presenting a homogenized cultural landscape where a pedestrian in Shanghai is just as likely to be Anglo as Asian.

One annoyance: In a somewhat lame attempt to make the characters sound "futuristic," screenwriter Boyce peppers their speech with non-English words and phrases such as "bueno," "palabra" and "n'est pas." The effect is like being locked in a room with a college backpacker eager to show off his new language skills. And that ain’t bueno.