My take on this BRILLIANT film

Eric Packer's obsessive drive to establish order, to be in control, is in stark contrast to the increasing chaos of the world around him - he's hermetically sealed in his womb/tomb, driven to keep out all external sound, interaction, the onslaught of anarchists or any virus - he's a lone astronaut, locked in his spaceship, propelling further and further away from a distant and shrinking humanity.

He's the Master of his Universe, the world he's helped create, but he wants out - to be reborn.

He needs a haircut.

. . .

I really do think that in it's own, unique way, "Cosmopolis" is an extremely BEAUTIFUL, sensual film - visually, the texture and detail, the incredible almost hyper-reality look, and, of course, the acting is all top level. To me it's best appreciated as something similar to a more abstract piece of music, rather than trying to analyze everything as it's happening, it's best to relax and soak it in - in the words of John Lennon, "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream". I love the references to the subjective paintings of Rothko, including the end titles where it dissolves in and out of a number of his works. The film, everything about it, is closer in spirit to very modern art, or contemporary classical music. As far as people having difficulty appreciating what it's doing, It's like if someone insists they need to hear a clear melody in a piece of music, otherwise they can't enjoy it, or in a painting they need to see some clearly represented object or person; it would be difficult for such a person to get into this film if they're blind to abstraction. I find "Cosmopolis" fascinating (it creates it's own world), and of course, it also says a lot about the direction society has taken and where it's going in the future - that aspect is very much open to unpacking and interpretation. Yes, one needs to unpack Eric Packer.