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What does the name "Cypher" have to do with it?

posted 21 years ago by gglaze
16 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this movie, and I have to agree with others - it was really great, and very entertaining. Northam's acting was excellent.

Other than some of the minor plot holes that have been brought up, I have just one complaint/query...

What in the world does the name "Cypher" have to do with this movie??? Perhaps they should have stuck with "Company Man", or come up with something more catchy but still relevant.

A cypher is a method used to encrypt data, and essentially involves transforming one set of bits and bytes into a completely different set of bits and bytes, generally with the goal that the original data is relatively difficult and practically impossible to "de-cypher" without having the information used to perform the original cyhper. As others here have noted, this is the complete opposite of the method used to secure data in this movie - physical data transfer via human courier. If they had actually used a cypher, potentially there would be no use for a human agent, and perhaps the point of the movie would be lost.

In fact I do not recall the word "cypher" or anything related to that, such as "encode" or "encrypt", showing up anywhere in the movie. No indication whatsoever was given to the audience that any of the data being passed around here, or anything else in the movie, was encrypted, cyphered, or anything else like that.

So - is the producer simply throwing a catchy techie-name at this movie, in hopes to leech off the success of other movies such as Matrix? Or is there an actual purpose for the name Cypher which has alluded me?

As I said, I thought the movie was great, and I'm definitely going to watch it again. But I'll feel a bit cheap for liking a movie so much, when I can't help feeling in the back of my head that perhaps it was created with the intention of leeching off the success of Matrix.

[–] mst-5 21 years ago

As for why the film is called Cypher, I don't know, but it may not have been Natali's choice. On the Japanese DVD there is an interview with Natali; in this he refers to the film as "Company Man" throughout. Maybe Natali and co. did not create the movie with the intention of leeching off of the Matrix, but someone further down the line got the name changed?

[–] Myca_Lowry 21 years ago

- A cypher is a method used to encrypt data, and essentially involves transforming one set of bits and bytes into a completely different set of bits and bytes, generally with the goal that the original data is relatively difficult and practically impossible to "de-cypher" without having the information used to perform the original cyhper. -

But isn't this what has happend to his identity, personality and concept of reality? Hasn't he had to try and de-cypher his existence without the benifit of a key - unless you count Rita?

[–] Unicorn-9 21 years ago

"Hasn't he had to try and de-cypher his existence without the benifit of a key - unless you count Rita?"

Well, Rita obviously _is_ the key to deciphering his existence. I think that's probably the point of the title, along with the other definition of "person of no consequence".

[–] Robby735 20 years ago

Well, Rita obviously _is_ the key to deciphering his existence. I think that's probably the point of the title, along with the other definition of "person of no consequence".

Well yeah, she IS the key, but it doesn't mean he wouldn't have found out who he really was later on, even without this 'key'. What I mean is, Rita didn't do anything physical to him which would make him remember who he really was.. he just remembered. I guess it could have come back to him anytime in the future if there wasn't a Rita, the real memories of himself could have been triggered by anything. So this key isn't really a key, it was just.. help.

Back on the subject of 'Cypher', if you search the word on dictionary.com - one of the entries coming up is:

3. One having no influence or value; a nonentity.

That's pretty much what the poster above said. In this way, the title really does relate to the movie.

[–] smarri-1 21 years ago

A Cypher can also be defined as a person of no importance or a nonentity.

Which fits into the context of the film. The main character basically wanted to be a nonentity so he could infiltrate the various organisations in the film. So he was the 'Cypher' of the films title.

Another intriguing definition of Cypher is :

"1. (Arith.) A character [0] which, standing by itself, expresses nothing, but when placed at the right hand of a whole number, increases its value tenfold."

Which again, I think, fits the main character very well!

In this case, the use of the word Cypher has nothing to do with cryptology at all.

[–] Danny_G13 20 years ago

Interestingly the word is mispelled. It's actually Cipher.

[–] Simon-140 20 years ago

Not so. "Cypher" is an alternative (British?) spelling for "cipher," which in this context means "nothing." The film is arguing that Rooks, and perhaps all people, have no basic, immutable personality; instead they are "blank slates" or cyphers that can have any personality burned onto them, not unlike a disk.

[–] dave-1325 20 years ago

I think the "cypher" (variant of "cipher") spelling is one of those nineteenth-century affectations that led to "foetus" (variant of "fetus"). "foetus" is still the usual spelling of that word in the UK, but "cypher" and "cipher" both crop up in UK spelling.

It was a previous round of spelling affectations that gave us those spurious "b"s in "debt" and "doubt", when we'd managed perfectly well with "dette" and "doute" before that.

"cipher" (or "cypher") comes from an Arabic word for zero, "al-sifr", and in fact both "zero" and the French "chiffre" ("digit") are also modern forms of that same word.

Interestingly the word "misspelled" is misspelt.

[–] somemoviesilike 20 years ago

I think it would be more likely that the original word was 'cypher', and when it developed its affixes, like 'decipher', it worked back on itself, and has been shortened to 'cipher'.

the b's in debt and doubt come from a period (a few hundred years back actually) when the scholars all decided that evidence of the etymology of a word should be present in the word itself - i think debt comes from the latin 'debutare' or similar.

[–] groovykid 20 years ago

the title is also an echo to cube (cypher .. sphere)

[–] adaptr 19 years ago

No it isn't.

How do you get from cypher to sphere ?

Are you on something ?

[–] jonschaper 20 years ago

Actually, US variant spellings are usually the affectations. When Ben Franklin created the first US dictionary, he deliberately altered the spellings of many words in order to try to distinguish the US from Britain. Therefore there are many spellings which are ONLY used in the US, whereas spellings considered to be "UK" are used around the world.

[–] DarkReality 20 years ago

Guys, there is a cypher... or cipher, whichever you prefer... in the movie. Sort of. Rita's phone number. ;-)

I may be reaching, but it certainly counts.

My message board: http://www.DarkRealityMB.com

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cbbrowne 19 years ago

The notion of cryptography only reflects one sense of the word.

There is another which is not as widely used anymore, namely the notion of a person who has no influence.

In effect, someone who is no more than a number in the system.

In George Turner's novel, _Brain Child_, one of the genetically engineered characters comments that he is "not a mere cipher" to the government; he is a man of some influence.

The term is indeed a good characterization of the main character; both companies regard him as being someone of no consequence whom they are simply using in their "warfare." They are, of course, wrong...

[–] Bob_Brooker 10 years ago

Just wonna throw in the Bible line that needed to be deciphered.

__________
Last movie watched: Charade (7/10)

What does the name &quot;Cypher&quot; have to do with it?

What does the name "Cypher" have to do with it?