Fermat's Room on AllMovie

A group of motley math experts must solve problems at lightning speed to avoid being squashed into oblivion in writer-director Luis Piedrahita's mindbending thriller Fermat's Room. The story begins with a handsome, twentysomething intellectual, Galois (Alejo Sauras) banking off the success of solving an intimidating mathematical enigma known as Goldbach's theorem. Galois then receives an invitation from the mysterious stranger Fermat (Federico Luppi) who invites both him and several other intellectuals to a set location in a warehouse, with the stated intention of having them collectively solve a mathematical riddle. He instructs them to avoid bringing cell phones, which none do. Upon arrival, Fermat indeed greets them in the warehouse, but is soon summoned offsite and leaves his invitees alone. As soon as he departs, odd events begin to transpire: the members of the group begin receiving strange mathematical riddles on their PDAs which they must solve in under a minute; subsequently, hydraulic presses on the exterior of the warehouse kick on and the walls begin to close in, threatening the lives of the protagonists.