"The Gene of Doubt" is an amazing, inventive and fascinating book. Through a simple science-fictionesque premise, the author, Nikos Panayotopoulos tackles complex questions.
For the adaptation, I decided to focus on the most important ones: what is an artist? What is recognition? What would it mean if one would take away your doubts?
We all ask ourselves this kind of questions and therein lies the universality of "The Gene of Doubt".
The script explores and develops both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic impact of the Zimmerman test. The world, especially the world of art is transfigured by the test, just like the protagonist, James’ life.
Through his eyes, we discover a shattered world where critics have disappeared, considered useless, where books tend to get slimmer and slimmer, where the quest for new talents is insatiable…
James’ strength is to remain true to himself, honest by his own believes… even if it means losing everything. He tries to find a way to exist outside and inside this world upset by the test.
And this courage is also James’ weakness. He is incapable of confronting himself to the test; he would rather not know than to be diagnosed as not being an author. What would he do, what would he be, if he cannot be a writer?
There is another irony underlying the story that truly moved me; by trying to connect with strangers and by trying to get their recognition, James destroys what is truly near to him and banishes the people who love him.
The script concentrates on the story of this man unable to commit to a true relationship, to be intimate except in his writings. He confuses fascination for literary talent with love of another human being. Stubborn, he refuses to confront his fears until death knocks at his door.
The narration starts when James, upon dying, asks to do the Zimmerman Test after all. The doctors and the nurses are startled. Why would an old man ask to do the test?
Slowly, his past unfolds; his ups and downs, his success, his descent into anonymity, the women he loved who left him, his resurrection… Finally, he is confronted with the question, did he make the right choice?