In a retro-futuristic world, a low-level bureaucrat escapes the drudgery of his everyday life through vivid daydreams in which he becomes a noble hero rescuing a beautiful damsel. When he’s assigned to correct an administrative error that led to the wrongful arrest and death of an innocent man, he unintentionally turns himself into a target of the state. Described by director Terry Gilliam as “Frank Capra meets Franz Kafka,” this surreal sci-fi satire of bureaucratic chaos is one of the most visually inventive films in the history of British cinema.

Reviews

‘Gilliam’s dystopian epic remains among his best, blending his trademark visual inventiveness with a vicious brand of social satire. Unique and essential.’
★★★★★
Adam Smith, Empire Magazine

‘It’s like a stoned, slapstick 1984: a nightmare comedy in which the comedy is just an aspect of the nightmarishness.’
Pauline Kael, The New Yorker