What Is ‘Megalopolis’ Really About?

The story behind the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis might be more interesting than the film itself, a passion project funded by the great director that comes across as somewhat muddled, but deeply sincere.

Megalopolis plays with too many ideas, a ball of plot threads that are difficult to follow, but the message of the story is fairly simple.

What is The Story Of ‘Megalopolis’?

Warning—Spoilers Ahead

Adam Driver stars as Cesar Catilina, a visionary architect who wants to build a utopia out of a semi-magical metal he invented called Megalon, which flows like liquid and boasts a golden glow.

Cesar is locked in a fierce rivalry with Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), the corrupt mayor of New Rome. New Rome looks like a vaguely futuristic New York, with a hint of Rapture from Bioshock, blended with the gaudy interiors of Trump Tower.

The aesthetic of this CGI dreamscape is wildly inconsistent; sometimes New Rome is genuinely stunning, and sometimes it looks like it was shot in a parking lot with a greenscreen.

Cesar is introduced as having the power to stop time, but he never does anything with it, because it’s not a literal power; it’s a visual metaphor for his artistic talents. All Cesar wants to do is build his “Megalopolis” out of Megalon, but the city’s power players are determined to crush his ambitions.

The story is modeled on the fall of Rome, focusing on the corruption and stagnation of the rich and powerful, who are too busy planning coups and accepting bribes to think of the future, or the plight of the working class.

Cesar is also rich and powerful, but his ideas prove threatening to his peers; essentially, the film is about how everyone should follow his vision. Or rather, it's about embracing the future and moving past nostalgia, about empowering artists to show us a path ahead.

Cesar’s cousin, Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), hates Cesar and plots his demise—he spends most of the runtime wearing drag, and in the final act of the film, becomes a very on-the-nose metaphor for Donald Trump.

Clodio’s father Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), is one of the most powerful men in the city, and soon becomes involved with Cesar’s ex-girlfriend, a Fox News-esque reporter named Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).

After being rejected by Cesar, who is still pining over the memory of his dead wife, Wow Platinum is determined to become filthy rich, but she repeatedly shows throughout the film that she would give it all up for Cesar, if he would only take her back (he doesn’t).

Cesar has fallen for the mayor’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), who impresses him after noticing his ability to stop time; she can see his artistic talents, and seems to truly understand his vision.

Cesar and Julia have something of a forbidden love affair, and their union frustrates Mayor Cicero, who is uncomfortable with his daughter making her own decisions. However, Julia’s love inspires Cesar to move on from his mourning period and accept the death of his wife.

Throughout most of the runtime, Cesar is haunted by a smear campaign orchestrated by Mayor Cicero, who wants the public to believe that Cesar murdered his wife.

Cesar also faces many trials and tribulations, but they are always resolved very quickly; he is accused of having sex with a minor, which is later revealed to be a deep-fake video; he survives an assassination attempt, and is miraculously healed by Megalon.

These events cause Cesar to lose faith in himself, and thus, lose his ability to stop time, but he regains it in the final scene of the film. Generally, the events of the film move through a haze, like a meandering dream, with little regard for traditional story structure.

Eventually, Wow Platinum seduces Clodio, and the two make a brazen attempt to steal Hamilton Crassus’s business empire from him, but the old man has the last laugh, murdering Wow with a bow and arrow and hitting his son with a couple, just for good measure.

Clodio is later murdered by the angry mob that he was attempting to rile up against Cesar, and dies in the same manner as Mussolini, while Crassus pledges to fund Cesar’s vision.

The city is bombarded by the fragments of a Soviet satellite, but we don’t see much of the aftermath; the destruction paves the way for Cesar to give a rousing speech to the citizens, impressing Mayor Cicero and empowering him to finally build Megalopolis.

Cesar and Julia have a baby, and Megalopolis is built, but it is never explained what the innovation of the structure actually is.

The final shot of the film shows their child, and Cesar once more freezes time, but his child continues to move, unaffected.

What Is ‘Megalopolis’ Really About?

Megalopolis is an unfocused tale, but the point of the film is that innovation is stifled by the wealthy and powerful, who seek to keep the world frozen in time.

Coppola seems to be saying that the artistically inclined and ambitious should be allowed to achieve their goals, without being stifled by the selfish concerns of old, rich men. Many times, the film highlights the corrosive effect of money and nostalgia.

However, the film is somewhat contradictory in its message; Megalopolis seems to disregard the concerns of the working class, which it depicts as a blindly angry mob, and entrusts wealthy individuals like Crassus to fund great works of art.

The film clearly states that corruption and stagnation is bad, but shows that the wealthy are capable of creating great things, if so inclined; Cesar is shown as being unambiguously correct, most of the time.

However, he is only able to succeed once he moves on with his new love, rather than pining over the dead.

The final shot of the film is optimistic, communicating that the future lies in the hands of the next generation, that Cesar’s artistic gifts are being passed on, and no longer belong to him.

It’s worth arguing whether Francis Ford Coppola successfully achieved his vision while making this film, but his earnestness is undeniable.

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