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THX 1138

THX 1138

Science Fiction · Drama · 1971

People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

Movie details

THX 1138

“The Future is here.”

1971 Science Fiction · Drama 1h 26m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.6 / 10

56.5K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

72 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

75 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over THX 1138?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

Watch in your region.

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

George Lucas

Written by

George Lucas · Walter Murch

Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

THX

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

SEN

Don Pedro Colley

Don Pedro Colley

SRT

Maggie McOmie

Maggie McOmie

LUH

Ian Wolfe

Ian Wolfe

PTO

Marshall Efron

Marshall Efron

TWA

Sid Haig

Sid Haig

NCH

Court is in session

Put THX 1138 on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.