Fermat's Room (2007)

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Fermat’s Room (La habitación de Fermat) is a 2007 Spanish thriller film directed by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña. The story follows four mathematicians, who are invited to a mysterious gathering using aliases based on famous mathematicians. They soon discover that they are trapped inside a room whose walls slowly move inward whenever they fail to solve mathematical puzzles displayed on a device within a strict time limit. As the puzzles become increasingly difficult, the characters must combine mathematical reasoning, logic, and cooperation to survive, while also trying to understand why they were selected.

As the story develops, the mathematical challenge becomes intertwined with betrayal, revenge, deception, and professional rivalry. The characters discover that their identities and relationships are connected to a larger scheme involving Goldbach’s conjecture and the desire to prove it. Eventually, they realize that the supposed host, Fermat, is himself being manipulated and that one of the people trapped with them is responsible for the situation. The film therefore uses mathematics as both a plot device and a metaphor for intellectual competition, showing how ambition and obsession can transform the pursuit of mathematical truth into a dangerous personal conflict.

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