Directed by Vincenzo Natali. Written by André Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, and Graeme Manson.

Worth

• I'm just a guy. I work in an office building, doing office building stuff.

• I don't wanna die, I'm just being realistic. You think they'd go to all the trouble to build this thing if we could just walk out?

• Do you think we matter? We don't.

• I mean, this is an accident, a forgotten, perpetual public works project. Do you think anybody wants to ask questions? All they want is a clear conscience and a fat paycheck.

• I mean, nobody wants to see the big picture. Life's too complicated.

• Just out of curiosity—I mean, don't hit me again, I think—but what are you going to do when you get there?

Quentin

• Let's rule out aliens for now and concentrate on what we know.

• You can't see the big picture from in here, so don't try. Keep your head down, keep it simple. Just look at what's in front of you.

• Leaven…you beautiful brain.

• What do you think the establishment is? It's just guys like me. Their desks are bigger but their jobs aren't. They don't conspire, they buy boats.

• Every day I mop up after your bleeding heart. The only reason you even exist is because I keep you!

• I know your type. No kids, no man to fuck you. So you go around outraged, sticking your nose up other people's assholes, sniffing their business!

• I looked through the walls. I dreamed him, at his desk, designing everything. He can't let you solve the puzzle, see, because there is a purpose.

• I'm not dying in a fucking rat maze!

Holloway

• Only the government could build something this ugly.

• It's okay, I just swallowed my button.

• It's all the same machine, right? The Pentagon, multinational corporations, the police! You do one little job, you build a widget in Saskatoon and the next thing you know it's two miles under the desert, the essential component of a death machine!

• God help you, Quentin. Did you smack your kids around too?

Rennes

• Look around. Take a good, long look-see. 'Cause I got a feeling it's looking at us.

• No more talkin'. No more guessin'. Don't even think about nothing that's not right in front of ya. That's the real challenge. You've got save yourselves from yourselves.

• Suck on it...keeps the saliva flowin'.

• Merde.

Dialogue

Worth: I have nothing to live for out there.

Leaven: What is out there?

Worth: Boundless human stupidity.

Quentin: Listen, we can't go climbing around in here.

Holloway: Why not?

Quentin: There's traps.

Holloway: What do you mean, traps?

Quentin: Traps. I looked in the room down there and something almost cut my head off.

Leaven: Shouldn't we wait here?

Holloway: For what?

Leaven: To see if anybody comes.

Worth: No one's going to come.

Quentin: This guy's the Wren.

Holloway: The what?

Quentin: He's the wren. The bird of Attica. Flew the coop on six major prisons.

Rennes: Seven.

Quentin: Don't you have a wife, or a girlfriend, or something?

Worth: Nope. I've got a pretty fine collection of pornography.

Kazan: This room is…green.

Holloway: Yes it is.

Kazan: I want to go back to the blue room.

Quentin: You could try and help me out here, buddy.

Worth: No I couldn't.

Holloway: I'm talking about where do you hide something this big. Hey, I'm sorry to shake your foundations, Quentin, but you have no idea where your tax dollars go.

Quentin: Free clinic doctors?

Holloway: Only the military-industrial complex could afford to build something this size.

Quentin: Holloway? What is the military-industrial complex? Have you ever been there? I'm telling you, it's not that complex.

Quentin: That your two bits worth…Worth?

Worth: For what it's worth.

Quentin: Somebody has to take responsibility around here.

Worth: And that somebody has to be you.

Quentin: Not all of us have the luxury of playing nihilist.

Worth: Not all of us are conceited enough to play hero.

Worth: Holloway, you don't get it.

Holloway: Then help me, please. I need to know.

Worth: This may be hard for you to understand, but there is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan. Can you grasp that? Big Brother is not watching you.

Quentin: Why put people in it?

Worth: Because it's here. You have to use it, or you admit it's pointless.

Quentin: But it is pointless!

Worth: Quentin, that's my point.

Leaven: If this were right, then we would be outside of the cube.

[Leaven looks around.]

Leaven: No, not outside of the cube.

Quentin: Oh. Guess that means we're not having dinner.

Holloway: How long did you know people were being put in here?

Worth: A couple of months.

Holloway: That's not long…if you consider your whole life.

Worth: I am.

Leaven: We'll come back for him...

Holloway: That's a lie, and you know it.

Quentin: Sure you can. It's your gift.

Leaven: It's not a gift. It's just a brain.

Leaven: This room moves to 0, 1, and -1 on the X-axis, 2, 5, and -7 on the Y and 1, -1, and 0 on zed.

Quentin: And what does that mean?

Leaven: You suck at math.

Leaven: What is out there?

Worth: Boundless human stupidity…

Holloway: It's so much worse than I thought.

Worth: Not really, just more pathetic.

Leaven: With those numbers, the room should be safe.

Quentin: [Laughing] Only one way to find out! [Calmly throws Worth into the room]

Taglines

• Fear…Paranoia…Suspicion…Desperation
• Don't Look For A Reason…Look For A Way Out
• The Walls Are Closing In.

Cast

• Nicole de Boer — Joan Leaven
• Nicky Guadagni — Helen Holloway
• David Hewlett — David Worth
• Andrew Miller — Kazan
• Wayne Robson — Rennes
• Maurice Dean Wint — Quentin