WHILE watching Code 46, I felt like I needed a code book to understand this thought-provoking, atmospheric film.

I enjoyed it, not so much for the story itself - which, quite honestly, was rather lame - but for its location shots of crowded, futuristic Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai.

This is a romantic science fiction film, directed by British director Michael Winterbottom, set in the not-too-distant future, where in-vitro fertilisation, embryo splitting and cloning are the norm.

In fact, it's so common that couples have to have their DNA examined to determine whether it is safe for them have kids.

And if anyone had sex with a person with a similar DNA, it would be a Code 46 violation.

This leads to penalties ranging from having memories partially wiped to being exiled to an area outside the urban zones, called afuera - a place where freedom of thought and movement co-exists with all kinds of dangers, anarchy and deprivation.

As is usually the case, the future always looks scary in such films - here, it looks controlled and sterile.

But don't expect any impressive special effects, or any outstanding acting.

Tim Robbins plays William Geld, an insurance investigator sent to check out a factory in Shanghai which makes a kind of identity card passport, called a papelle.

Thanks to an empathy virus he has taken, he seems almost able to read people's minds to help with his investigation.

He soon becomes suspicious about an enigmatic character called Maria, played by Saman-tha Morton - but, for some reason not exactly explained in the story, he falls in love with her.

Needless to say, there involves some hanky-panky, which, much to Geld's surprise, results in a Code 46 violation.

Having returned to his wife and son in Seattle, he is then told to go back to Shanghai and finish his work.

Unable to find Maria, he ends up staying longer than expected - resulting in his papelles expiring.

So now he needs a fake papelle, just like those Maria had been selling on the black market.

However, when he eventually finds her, she has had her memory of him removed.

Likewise, viewers may well find their memory of the storyline ends up being wiped too!