Nicholas Hoult in Equals

Equals showcases a world where human emotions are considered an illness.

Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult play forbidden lovers in Equals, a dystopian romance that buries its interesting ideas under a stylish, yet dull moodiness.

Aiming for emotional heft through its exploration of humanity, the story lacks the suspense and ironically, the warmth, to sustain viewers’ interest. It treats its premise with a studious coldness and in the process, leaves the minimalist aesthetic of its universe to smother its characters.

It’s a shame, because post Twilight, the mega popular young adult novel adapted for film series that made her a star, Stewart has proven to be a courageous actress — mostly picking offbeat roles and showcasing the flexibility of her solemn-beauty exterior.

In Equals, she and to a lesser extent, Hoult (X-Men film series, Mad Max: Fury Road) displays humane vulnerability under a society enforced stoicism. Stewart has always been good at playing the hesitant celebrity and here, that works for her.

Yet, director Drake Doremus (Breathe In, Like Crazy) can’t milk those performances. His script (written by Nathan Parker, who wrote the much stronger space drama Moon) makes the mistake of being as calculating as the world it tries to paint.

Its relatively simple premise is not entirely original (the 2002 sci-fi action Equilibrium also did it, for instance) — sometime in the future, the world lost most of its population after an unspecified, catastrophic war.

The remaining humans managed to rebuild society but created one where human emotions are suppressed through chemicals. There is regular monitoring of emotions, and those on the onset of a disease called switched-on syndrome (SOS), which essentially means the awaking of any sort of emotions, are sent off to “treatment”, which almost always ends with encouraged suicides.

Hoult, whose character begins to show these symptoms, starts to notice how Stewart’s character also seemingly displays the same signs of “illness”, but manages to hide it better than he does. They eventually fall for each other and struggle to survive in a world that begins to show its menacing side toward those not in line.

In silence: Silas (Nicholas Hoult) and Nia (Kristen Stewart) eventually fall for each other and struggle to survive in a world without emotions.

The romance between Stewart and Hoult evokes a carefulness that works well within the story’s chilly context. Slight physical touches shot with tension (if a little music video-like) and passion.

There are always a lot of unanswered questions about the logic of dystopian universe, and the world of Equals certainly conjures up a lot of basic curiosity (what about the rest of the world? for instance). But the film’s grave presentation lends off an air of artsy assuredness, which at the offset, suggests the film is less about the environment and more about the question of the value of humanity.

But by its first quarter, the story makes it clear that Doremus and Parker aren’t concerned about those questions. What strengths and weaknesses does a world devoid of basic human drive present? How does emotion make us human? Are we conscious beings without emotion? The film doesn’t even concern itself with its own seeming conclusion — a predictably earnest one — that emotions are good.

The film’s delivery makes it clear that the premise is simply an excuse to utilize its bluish-white-grey aesthetic. The uniformed citizens and the minimalist buildings are essentially North Korea meets Kinfolk magazine, a sterile stylishness that says nothing except looking cool. Without much concern for the consequence — positive or otherwise — of their own world, the story almost becomes as hollow as “two humans trying to escape robot world”.

That approach may have worked had the film decided to inject some suspense into the story. But the closest it gets is in the form of Jonas (Guy Pearce), an SOS veteran who has helped many lovers escape. It’s as an afterthought and a way for the film to have an end of sorts. The film barely hints at the larger world, and as such leaves no consequence as to whether the characters make it.

As it is, Equals is simply not dramatic enough to succeed as a drama, or thrilling enough to be a thriller. It’s somber for little reason and stylish to a fault. There’s humanity in the performances, but too bad the people behind the camera and script never seem to care for it.

— Photos courtesy of Route One Films.

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Equals

(A24, 101 minutes)

Director: Drake Doremus
Screenplay: Drake Doremus, Nathan Parker
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart