Fermat's Room

FERMAT'S ROOM is the story of 4 people who are trapped in a room together. This at first seems like a boring concept that has been done to death in the independent film world (see romantic comedy STUCK LIKE CHUCK) but throw in the fact that the room is slowly shrinking and threatening to kill the inhabitants and suddenly we’ve upped the ante a bit. Four mathematics experts are invited to attend a special party being thrown by a enigmatic Fermat. When they get there they are locked in and are faced with several riddles. If the riddles aren’t solved within a certain time limit, the walls of the room close in on them. The characters have to figure out not only who the mysterious Fermat is, but also why he wants each of them dead.

The back cover of this DVD release is a bit deceptive. It states, “Four famed mathematicians, all strangers to one another…”, when in fact once they are all in the room together you can immediately sense that these characters have some previous relationships to each other. That being said, FERMAT'S ROOM is an extremely intelligent film that at first seems like it’s going to be a cheap SAW rip-off, but the writers and directors Rodrigo Sopena and Luis Piedrahita craft a story filled with suspense, intriguing backstory, and a fairly unique twist.

This Spanish language independent film has a glossy Hollywood look and polished cinematography. The acting is excellent, the characters entertaining and compelling. There are few aspects of this film that don’t seem like they were gone over with a fine-tooth comb. The audio is well done (especially since the DVD has a Dolby 5.1 surround mix). Everything in this film falls together like the jigsaw puzzle that is FERMAT'S ROOM.