Cold Souls (2009)

Most of us carry around a little more anxiety than we'd like, but few of us would go as far as removing our souls to get rid of it. Sophie Barthes' surreal comedy "Cold Souls," her feature debut, stars Paul Giamatti as an actor named, fittingly enough, Paul Giamatti. Weighed down by anxiety while rehearsing Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," Paul discovers a high-tech clinic run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn) that will extract and store his soul. Without it, Paul feels lighter, but his acting turns hollow and his marriage suffers. He rents the soul of a Russian poet instead, with unsettling results. It seems like the answer he's been looking for, until he falls victim to an international soul-trafficking ring and must track his soul to Russia. Dina Korzun plays Nina, a melancholy "mule" who smuggles souls between Russia and New York and begins to feel the weight of those she's carried. Paul's soul has ended up in St. Petersburg with an aspiring soap opera actress. Emily Watson co-stars as his wife. Barthes was inspired by a dream about Woody Allen, and the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Balancing deadpan humor with genuine pathos, it's a clever, soul-searching comedy in every sense.