Predestination (film)

Predestination is a 2014 Australian science fiction film, written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig, based on the Robert A. Heinlein short story "All You Zombies—".

Temporal Agent / Bartender

 * I've changed so much that I doubt my own mother would recognize me.
 * 05m55s


 * I'm sorry if you feel deceived. But it's a mistake to think that we can change certain events. Just like you said, some things are inevitable. ... The shock will wear off, but you can take comfort in knowing that these events are happening in the correct order. The path you're on will take you to your destination.
 * 1h16m26s


 * The snake that eats its own tail, forever and ever. I know where I come from. But where do all you zombies come from?
 * 1h24m49s


 * The only thing that I know for sure is that you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I miss you dreadfully.
 * 1h31m01s

Jane / John / The Unmarried Mother

 * When I got older, I realized I stood little chance of getting married, for the same reason I hadn't been adopted. I was different. A freak. A goddamn loser. ... People want to adopt a little golden-haired moron. And later on, the boys, they want big tits and pouty lips. You know, a perfect accessory.
 * 20m46s


 * You better not be fucking with me.
 * 52m17s (Uttered to the bartender while the song I'm My Own Grandpa plays in the background.)


 * Jane: Well, you know what they say about good things happening to those who wait.
 * John: But only the things left behind by those who hustle.
 * 30m58s and 59m33s (An antithesis to the French proverb, "Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre", was proposed in the item named "Two Ways of Getting There", published in The Inter Ocean Chicago, 3 January 1892, p. 12: "No one can deny the soundness of the familiar maxim, ‘All things come to those who wait.’ ... But it would be equally true and quite as accordant with facta to change that proverb into, ‘All things come to those who hustle.’ The waiting which is akin to loitering never succeeds, except by the merest accident. No one deserves to ‘get there’ who is not willing to exert himself." The proverb and its antithesis were synthesized into a single aphorism in Puck Vol. XXXII, 31 September 1892, p. 259: "All things come to those who hustle while they wait." In Forbes Vol. 102, 1968, p. 110, the aphorism was modified and ascribed to Abraham Lincoln: "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." It does not occur in "All You Zombies—".)

Dialogue

 * John: So how far can you travel, then?
 * Temporal Agent: Travel beyond 53 years of zero point, either direction, will result in the temporal wake disintegrating.
 * John: Zero point?
 * Temporal Agent: The invention of time travel.
 * John: And when's that?
 * Temporal Agent: It will be in 1981.
 * 56m24s


 * Temporal Agent: She'll endure so much pain because of what I do.
 * Mr. Robertson: That's the way it has to be. That's the way it's always been. You should understand that better than anyone.
 * Temporal Agent: The snake that eats its own tail, forever and ever?
 * Mr. Robertson: You are here to create history and influence what is to come.
 * Temporal Agent: I don't think I can do it.
 * Mr. Robertson: Understand, you are more than an agent, you are a gift given to the world through a predestination paradox. You are the only one free from history, ancestry...
 * Temporal Agent: The rooster.
 * Mr. Robertson: But you must complete your mission. You must lay the seed for the future. We’re counting on you.
 * 1h10m54s

Quotes about Predestination

 * Causality nerds will have a field day with the film, especially if they don’t know the ending. (Or beginning, as it were. The plot is loopy, in the most literal sense of the word.) … The film’s true revelation, though, is Snook … Per the time-honored traditions of time-travel cinema, Predestination just wants to blow minds. But in its best moments, the ones that put Snook front and center, it threatens to break hearts instead.
 * A. A. Dowd, in "Predestination gives a famous time-travel story the Chris Nolan treatment" at the A.V. Club (8 January 2015)


 * Predestination, adapted from sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—" … concerns fate, free will, time-travel, a forced sex-change operation and a serial-killer manhunt. It’s impressively insane and a lot of fun. “It’s absolutely out of its mind,” says Hawke, who plays a “temporal agent” flitting through time. “I love science-fiction that’s not oriented around action or effects. Whether it’s Robert Heinlein, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, H. G. Wells or whoever... that kind of mind-bendy science-fiction where you can really attack themes in a new way. And when I read Predestination it was like: ‘What the fuck did I just read?!’” He particularly likes the fact that although the lead character is transgender, the film is not explicitly about transgender issues, it’s about all of us. “There’s something about Predestination that actually does get at identity, for me,” he says.
 * Alex Godfrey, in "Ethan Hawke: ‘Mining your life is the only way to stumble on anything real'" in The Guardian (29 November 2014)


 * Is this the first great "What the f—k" movie of the year? … As soon as the credits rolled on “Predestination,” I wanted to watch it again. It was even more of a mind-dance the second time around. … The deeper we go, the more insane the story gets, leading to one of the most bizarre endings in recent movie history. Even if you see it coming, it doesn't make it any less weird.
 * Richard Roeper, in Predestination - Richard Roeper Review (9 January 2015)


 * This is one of those films that is so filled with twists, turns and unexpected developments that even the most oblique plot discussion threatens to wander into dreaded spoiler territory. Then again, I admit that I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen going in thanks to my familiarity with the source material, Robert Heinlein's celebrated 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—", and still found myself knocked out by its startlingly effective translation from the page to the screen. I will try to keep the details to a minimum, but, trust me, the less you know going in, the better, especially considering the fact that the story deals in no small part with time travel (and all of the attending paradoxes) and that is not even close to being its most unusual aspect. … Hawke … is an actor who in recent years has more often than not been gravitating towards material that is off-beat and original — at this point, his name on a marquee pretty much guarantees that the film in question will at least be somewhat interesting. … Sarah Snook delivers a knockout performance that calls on her to perform the kind of tricky scenes that could have resulted in bad laughs throughout if handled incorrectly. Not only does she pull off her performance brilliantly throughout — there is not one moment in which she is anything less that utterly convincing and believable — I would go so far as to put her work here up against any of the current front-runners for the Best Actress Oscar.
 * Peter Sobczynski, in review at Roger Ebert.com (9 January 2015)


 * Weirder and more contemplative than many of its time-traveling brethren, Predestination is a stylish head trip. It also marks Australian actor Snook as one to watch, as she demonstrates some serious gender-bending range.
 * Sara Stewart in "Predestination is a sci-fi head trip" in The New York Post (7 January 2015)


 * To try and wrap your head around the plot of Predestination can only lead to madness. Don't get me wrong: The movie itself is a trip. … Ethan Hawke, at his mesmerizing best, stars as the Temporal Agent, a time-traveler with a mission to stop future murders before they can happen. … Better that you just throw yourself into this tale and cogitate about it later. If getting stoned helps, so be it. One thing's for sure: You won't be able to take your eyes off Snook, an Aussie actress who makes whatever sex she's playing almost irrelevant. You watch her. You hear her. You believe. It's a dynamite performance. Hawke, who worked with the Spierigs on 2010's Daybreakers, gravitates to movies that don't play by the rules. Predestination sure as hell doesn't. Any frustration you feel about losing your bearings fades in face of the film's ultimate kick.
 * Peter Travers, in Predestination review in Rolling Stone (9 January 2015)

Cast

 * Ethan Hawke as The Bartender/Temporal Agent
 * Sarah Snook as The Unmarried Mother/Jane/John
 * Noah Taylor as Mr. Robertson
 * Madeleine West as Mrs. Stapleton
 * Christopher Kirby as Agent Miles
 * Freya Stafford as Alice
 * Jim Knobeloch as Dr. Belfort
 * Christopher Stollery as The Interviewer
 * Tyler Coppin as Dr. Heinlein
 * Rob Jenkins as Mr. Jones