X+Y, a film for the people who want to see the beauty of the world, producers. It is the story of a boy who has diagnosed on the spectrum of Autism. Morgan Matthews, the director, said that, this is a film about beauty, says Matthews, “about a boy who sees beauty in the world around him that other people don’t see, and it’s also about the beauty of relationships. So I wanted the film to reflect that as well.

Inspired By Beautiful Young Minds

For filmmaker Morgan Matthews, the journey that led to his debut feature film, “X+Y”, began when he started work on a trilogy of documentary films, all of which aired in 2007 and explored a series of very different — and somewhat unusual — competitions.

These included Hair Wars, Blue Suede Jew and Beautiful Young Minds, the latter emerging as a 90-minute feature documentary that recorded the trials and travails of a group of students heading to the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO).

All three documentaries were successful, with Beautiful Young Minds, proving a critical hit, and going on to be nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Documentary. One of the film’s subjects was a student called Daniel, who has a neurodevelopmental disorder that fosters mathematical genius.

Indeed, such was the drama and substance to Daniel’s story that Matthews began contemplating a dramatic retelling of a similar tale, a fictional story inspired by the personalities and events that unfold in the documentary.

“I always felt this story had the potential to be dramatized and that this fascinating world could be represented in a feature film,” he begins, “you often find that while a documentary film is very close to the subject, you can’t be there all of the time, and that there are certain aspects of these people’s lives that you are simply not able to cover.

“Also, the period of time in which you are filming a documentary is often quite restricted,” he adds. “With X+Y, we have a much longer film in terms of the time period it covers. In addition, it brings this subject to a different and wider audience.”

Telling a dramatic story also allows for creative licence. “It is a real liberation, and we took a lot of creative licence with this story,” Matthews says. “X+Y is inspired by the documentary.

Whereabouts of Nathan

The character at the centre of X+Y is a young boy, Nathan. His parents understand that he is different from other boys of his age and that he has difficulty understanding and expressing his emotions. He is keenly intelligent and displays a supreme talent for mathematics.

“He is a boy who is fascinated by the world around him,” says Matthews of his main character, “he loves patterns, colour and light. He is diagnosed as having a form of aphasia which is quite specific to him and is related to changes in pattern and light.”

As a consequence, Nathan is “quite mesmerized by the world around him,” Matthews explains, “but he doesn’t really engage very well with the emotional world, he is also diagnosed as being on the spectrum of autism.”

To bring this complex and engaging character to life, the filmmakers turned to young English actor Asa Butterfield. “I had seen Asa in Hugo and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” says Matthews, “and I think he is a wonderful young actor. He does brilliantly in what is quite a difficult role.”

One of the main difficulties that Matthews and Butterfield had to overcome was whereabouts to place Nathan on the spectrum; neurodevelopmental disorders — including both autism and Asperger’s — can vary greatly from one person to another.

“There is not just one way to play something like this, but Morgan knew a lot about the emotional reaction that he wanted people to get from each of the characters,” Butterfield says.

“He knew where he wanted things to be in terms of Nathan’s condition and it was just a case of finding that on screen and bringing it to life.”

In a bid to bring as much authenticity to the role as possible, Butterfield watched Beautiful Young Minds a number of times. “That was really helpful because it showed different people coping with different levels and different intensities of neurodevelopmental disorders. Morgan and I then had to decide where we’d want to place Nathan on the spectrum.”

Synopsis

A young maths genius sees logic thwarted by one truly baffling equation: love. Teenage maths prodigy Nathan (Asa Butterfield) struggles when it comes to building relationships with other people, not least with his mother, Julie (Sally Hawkins). In a world difficult to comprehend, he finds comfort in numbers. And when Nathan is taken under the wing of unconventional and anarchic teacher, Mr. Humphreys (Rafe Spall), the pair forge an unusual friendship. Eventually, Nathan’s talents win him a place on the UK National team at the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) and the team travel to a training camp in Taiwan, under the supervision of squad leader Richard (Eddie Marsan).

In unfamiliar surroundings, Nathan is confronted by a series of unexpected challenges — not least the unfamiliar feelings he begins to experience for his Chinese counterpart, the beautiful Zhang Mei (Jo Yang), feelings that develop when the young mathematicians return to England for the IMO, held at Trinity College, Cambridge.

From suburban England to bustling Taipei and back again, this original and heart-warming film tracks the funny and complex relationships that Nathan builds, as he is confronted by the irrational nature of love. 

X+Y

Director: Morgan Matthews

Cast: Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Jo Yang

Genre: Comedy/ Drama

Class: IIA

Length: 111mins

Languages: English & Putonghua (In Parts) (Chinese Subtitles)