History Film / CloudAtlas

* BerserkButton: The Mexican woman [[spoiler:kills the assassin after he shoots her dog and calls her a wetback]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: To show how HistoryRepeats, [[http://azsunblogger.blogspot.com.br/2013/06/cloud-atlas-study-guide.html?view=sidebar almost every actor has different roles in 2-6 stories]].

* ABloodyMess: [[spoiler:Frobisher]] does his best to avoid making a mess, but it leads to this trope regardless in the film, when [[spoiler: Sixsmith clings to his lifeless body]].

* CoitusEnsues: [[spoiler: Somni-451 and Hae-Joo waste little time consummating their RescueRomance. After all, [[ReincarnationRomance they are soulmates]].]]

* FacelessGoons: The police force in the Neo Seoul subplot with their black dresses and masks.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: [[spoiler: Somni-451 and Hae-Joo waste little time consummating their RescueRomance. After all, [[ReincarnationRomance they are soulmates]].]]

* MindScrew: Each story initially appears to be set in the same universe as its predecessor. This is toyed with when Frobisher questions the veracity of Ewing's journal, then completely undermined when Cavendish receives Rey's story as the manuscript for a fictional novel. Yet connections between the characters seem to bridge this fiction-reality divide, such as the shared birthmark of Frobisher, Rey, Sonmi, and Zachry. Similarly, the reader is led to believe that all of the protagonists are one reincarnated soul, marked by the distinctive birthmark, but this is disputed since the lifespans of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish should overlap... ''unless'' they're two aspects of the same person, since they're the exact same age. Her being a fictional character in his universe might be a more significant barrier, unless she was real and "Half-Lives" is a story based on her adventures -- which is entirely possible. [[spoiler: The film implies this possibility more heavily than the book, because in the film the "Half-Lives" manuscript is written by Javier Gomez, the same kid who routinely drops in to visit Luisa and doesn't shut up about mystery tropes.]]

* MindScrew: Each story initially appears to be set in the same universe as its predecessor. This is toyed with when Frobisher questions the veracity of Ewing's journal, then completely undermined when Cavendish receives Rey's story as the manuscript for a fictional novel. Yet connections between the characters seem to bridge this fiction-reality divide, such as the shared birthmark of Frobisher, Rey, Sonmi, and Meronym. Similarly, the reader is led to believe that all of the protagonists are one reincarnated soul, marked by the distinctive birthmark, but this is disputed since the lifespans of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish should overlap... ''unless'' they're two aspects of the same person, since they're the exact same age. Her being a fictional character in his universe might be a more significant barrier, unless she was real and "Half-Lives" is a story based on her adventures -- which is entirely possible. [[spoiler: The film implies this possibility more heavily than the book, because in the film the "Half-Lives" manuscript is written by Javier Gomez, the same kid who routinely drops in to visit Luisa and doesn't shut up about mystery tropes.]]

* {{Brownface}}: Bae Doona plays a Mexican woman in one storyline, and a white woman (Ewing's wife) in another. Jim Broadbent also shows up as a brown-skinned prescient.

* {{Brownface}}: Bae Doona plays a Mexican woman in one storyline. Jim Broadbent also shows up as a brown-skinned prescient.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Robert Frobisher is the only main character to die.]]

* DepravedBisexual: Robert Frobisher is a non-AxCrazy variety -- charming, hedonistic, manipulative, thieving, sees no problem with cheating, freely admits he'll never truly love anyone but himself ([[spoiler:though in the end, he almost admits he loves Sixsmith... unless the "sole love of [his] short, bright life" he refers to is actually ''music''.]]) and leaps easily from one conquest to the next. He's a true self-absorbed sensualist and opportunist.

* ManipulativeBastard: Frobisher, very much so. As is Ayrs.

[[caption-width-right:349:Trust us--there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters far more characters]].[[note]][[ActingForTwo Not as many more actors though.]][[/note]]]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters[=/=]LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: To show how HistoryRepeats, [[http://azsunblogger.blogspot.com.br/2013/06/cloud-atlas-study-guide.html?view=sidebar almost every actor has different roles in 2-6 stories]].

A 2012 part-ScienceFiction AnthologyFilm based on Creator/{{David Mitchell|Author}}'s [[Literature/CloudAtlas 2004 novel]], ''Cloud Atlas'' is a sweeping epic that connects wildly different genres and writing styles into a single narrative. It was written and directed by Creator/TheWachowskis and Tom Tykwer. The Wachowskis directed the 1849, 2144 and 2321 sequences, and Tom Tykwer directed the 1936, 1973 and 2012 sequences.

* WhoWearsShortShorts: The Fabricants do.

** Frobisher is antisemitic and looks down on the working classes, as a typical son of wealthy British gentry of his period would.

* StackedCharactersPoster: The poster has all main characters stacked upon another with the face of Tom Hank's character [[FloatingHeadSyndrome floating on top]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cloud_atlas_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Trust us--there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters far more characters]].[[note]][[ActingForTwo Not as many more actors though.]][[/note]]]]

* DangerouslyShortSkirt: A feature of pretty much all of Sonmi~451's outfits - even the one she wears once she's in prison.

* MulticoloredHair: What the novel implies to be white hair on the fabricants is instead normal Asian black hair in the film, but with two locks of some bright color.

* ManipulativeBastard: Frobisher, very much so. [[NotSoDifferent As is Ayrs.]]

* MindScrew: Each story initially appears to be set in the same universe as its predecessor. This is toyed with when Frobisher questions the veracity of Ewing's journal, then completely undermined when Cavendish receives Rey's story as a the manuscript for a fictional novel. Yet connections between the characters seem to bridge this fiction-reality divide, such as the shared birthmark of Frobisher, Rey, Sonmi, and Meronym. Similarly, the reader is led to believe that all of the protagonists are one reincarnated soul, marked by the distinctive birthmark, but this is disputed since the lifespans of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish should overlap... ''unless'' [[FridgeBrilliance they're two aspects of the same person, since they're the exact same age]]. Her being a fictional character in his universe might be a more significant barrier, unless she was real and "Half-Lives" is a story based on her adventures -- which is entirely possible. [[spoiler: The film implies this possibility more heavily than the book, because in the film the "Half-Lives" manuscript is written by Javier Gomez, the same kid who routinely drops in to visit Luisa and doesn't shut up about mystery tropes.]]
** Cavendish and Luisa Rey may actually be of exactly the same age: she was born in 1947 (would turn sixty-five in 2012), and Cavendish is "65 and a half" in 2012. Can one soul be divided in two?

* FiveManBand: Cavendish is a part of one in his story to break out of Aurora House, though its more like a Four Man Band.
** TheHero[=/=]TheSmartGuy: Erine comes up with the plans to break out and Cavendish calls him "ruddy ruddy Genius" in a moment of panic.
** TheLancer: Timothy Cavendish helps put Noakes at bay and drives the getaway car.
** TheChick: Veronica is the only lady of group and fits TheSmurfettePrinciple, though she helps in taking the phone they need to kickstart their escape.
** TheLoad[=/=][[spoiler:EleventhHourRanger]]: Mr. Meeks. Meeks wants to get out, but he's a bit of a loon and doesn't do much. [[spoiler: Until they get to the bar and he helps enlist the patrons to save them from Noakes.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: In the film's "Ghastly Ordeal", [[spoiler:this along with all the unpaid loans is Denny's motivation for shutting up Timothy in Aurora House -- Timothy had slept with Denny's wife]].

* BattleaxeNurse: A scary one runs the nursing home where Cavendish is confined.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Frobisher has the bad luck of being a manic-depressive in 1931.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lloyd in the 1975 storyline.