In the first screenplay he had written since eXistenZ, David Cronenberg drew on Don DeLillo’s novel to tell the story of Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), a young multi-millionaire who tries to cross New York to get his hair cut, on a day of chaos in the financial markets. Taking place over 24 hours, Cosmopolis is an essay as absurd as it is hyper-realistic, about the dehumanisation caused by the nexus of wealth, power and technology.