YMMV / The Congress

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Since hypersleep exists in the 2030s (after the film's first time jump) why couldn't Aaron just hibernate and ask to be awakened once his mother recovered and got unfrozen? Maybe the real reason he goes missing and Dylan can't find him anywhere in 20 years while Robin lies hibernated is because he lost faith in his mother after the social collapse and decided to take the chemical drug for the animated realm much sooner and intentionally avoided getting found by Dylan, thus Dr. Barker couldn't bring himself to tell Robin the truth and preferred to make up the story that Aaron waited for her.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Early on, Robin mentions that she would rather sleep with Jeff to get a part than degrade herself to be scanned and barred from ever appearing in a movie as herself again - along with mentioning this is an Open Secret how actresses get roles in Miramount movies. A throw-away line in 2013 about sleazy movie producers, but not so much after the whole #MeToo shebang and Harvey Weinstein being incarcerated while awaiting further trails for additional sexual abuse and rape cases. And the fact Miramount is explicitly referencing various real-life situations related with Miramax makes it even less coincidental.
  • With the rapid advancements of generative A.I. during The New '20s, and the ongoing debates about the morality of using digitized copies of actors and extras to save on money, the concepts of The Congress have become bitterly prophetic.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Robin Wright plays a version of herself whose career has gone downhill. The film came out in 2013, the same year that House of Cards premiered. Her role in that series helped to revitalize her career.
  • In the film Robin Wright's likeness is digitally replicated to be used in movies that see her as a "Rebel Robot", which is ironic considering that Wright went on to star four years later in Blade Runner 2049 in which a copy of Rachael shows up, also a robotic character and portrayed by a digitally recreated 1982 Sean Young.
  • Robin Wright's demands of not using her digitized copy in films about the Holocaust and Nazism became ironic with the release of Ari Folman's later film Where Is Anne Frank.
  • Jon Hamm would go on to have a supporting role in Top Gun: Maverick, making the presence of the Maverick Mitchell toon this.
• Quirky Work: The first third of the movie takes the form of a fairly conventional narrative with a slight sci-fi bent to it. Once the animation takes over, any semblance of reality goes out the window in favor of a gigantic Mind Screw. It is probably best enjoyed while high.
• Special Effects Failure: The look and especially the beard of elderly Dr. Barker is rather unconvincing.

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