Having never found the motivation to fully watch through Terry Gilliam's The Zero Theorem, but being a rather large fan of some of his former works, I finally decided to give the film a full viewing.
With extremely mixed feelings from critics, The Zero Theorem seems very hit-and-miss if you aren't familiar with the obscure world-building that's commonly found in many of Terry Gilliam's films. Viewers of his 1985 hit Brazil will be familiar with the aesthetic: mostly unsettling and containing many dystopian tropes.
Although, in the case of The Zero Theorem, a lot of its world-building can feel somewhat confusing and bundled in without much thought; but believe me, there's weight to those moments and characters that feel out of place.
Qohen Leth (Christoph Waltz) is delusional, recluse, and drawn to discovering the truth and significance behind his and the universe's existence. He's tormented by the need for definitive reason behind his purpose. Given his mental health, Qohen requests to work from home, which is granted, but is tasked to work on breaking the "Zero Theorem", an unknown, but incredibly difficult mathematical formula.
Outside of the limitations of his mind, Qohen is distracted constantly by the everyday happenings of life: a woman displays interest in him. The genius son of his boss assists him in his attempts to solve the Zero Theorem. These two characters show Qohen a life he is missing, but also display the foundations of what it means to live -- a question he's seeking the answer to elsewhere.
Terry Gilliam's directing and writing constantly conveys the emotions of Qohen, after all, he's living within the damaged, decaying walls of a former Church. It's your typical high-tech, low-life setting in which the only thing progressing is time and computing. Late capitalism is also evident, showing even the foundations to our society cannot continue forever.
The Zero Theorem tackles existentialism, but from the viewpoint of one stuck in a world that's heavily dystopian and holds no true purpose itself. Everything is mathematically flawed; that's the Zero Theorem.
