Code 46

Code 46 (2003) is a sci-fi drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton. Shot on location in Shanghai and Dubai, the film turns real cities into an eerie near-future where borders are biological, not just geographical.

The world is split between walled cities and the lawless outlands beyond them. Movement requires "papelles" — digital passes that log genetics as well as identity. Insurance investigator William arrives in Shanghai to trace a forgery ring inside the Sphinx Corporation. His chief suspect is Maria Gonzalez. The closer he gets to the truth, the harder it is to stay objective — and Code 46 exists precisely to punish the kind of closeness that develops between them.

Winterbottom shoots the story like a fever dream, unhurried and quietly unsettling, probing what happens when the state decides who is allowed to love whom. Stream Code 46 online on iFILM.