Salma Hayek is going on an inter-dimensional adventure in her new sci-fi film Bliss. Written and directed by Mike Cahill (Another Earth), Hayek plays Isabel Clemens, a woman who believes the world she inhabits is a computer simulation. The movie also stars Owen Wilson (Wonder) as Greg, a man who Isabel is trying to help by showing him the difference between an “ugly” world and a world of “bliss,” which they seem to be able to travel between.
In the movie’s first trailer, Greg meets Isabel in a bar. She shows him that she possesses supernatural powers by knocking a tray of dishes from a waiter’s hand. She explains that everything he sees is “not real.” In the next scene, it looks like she’s teaching Greg how to harness his own powers. He points his finger at a candle and lights the wick.
Then, by placing a contraption inside his nostrils, Greg is transported to a realm where everything looks picture perfect. “This place is overwhelming,” he says. In this pristine world, we learn that Isabel is a doctor who has invented “brainbox simulation,” a program that creates an undesirable world for people to experience, so they can “generate appreciation for the real world.”
Isabel sees it the opposite way. “You have to experience the good to appreciate the bad,” she says as we watch the couple jump into different, brain-bending scenarios. But are there issues with Isabel’s experiments? Bill Nye the Science Guy seems to think so. He shows up in a yet unknown role to tell Greg that there might be problems with her research.
The rest of the trailer doesn’t reveal too much more about the plot other than Greg is confused about what kind of tricks his mind is playing on him. “One of these days, you’re going to have to choose between these worlds,” Greg’s daughter Emily (Neta Cooper) tells him.
Whatever world has us sailing on a boat with Salma Hayek, we pick that one.
Bliss premieres on Amazon Prime Feb. 5.