Spoiler alert!

Released in 1998, "Following" is the first feature film by English director Christopher Nolan. It’s a low-budget neo-noir film. Nolan later explained in interviews that he chose the film noir genre, black and white, and little-known actors to appeal to an audience not used to low-budget films.

The viewer feels as if the film is speaking to them personally. Film noir has the particularity of making the plot and themes immediately engaging for the audience. The genre allows us to project our own lives and fears onto the big screen.

Being accused and found guilty of a crime you didn’t commit is certainly a familiar fear. And for Bill, the main character, it’s a nightmare come true after the bad decision to follow strangers in the street to satisfy his curiosity and questionable artistic sense.

"Following" is the story of Bill, an idle and curious writer. His misadventure begins with his decision to follow strangers in the street to experience strong emotions and satisfy an artistic curiosity. In Kantian terms: using others as a means to satisfy personal interests without their consent.

Caught at his own game, Cobb, a seasoned manipulator, notices what’s going on and confronts Bill. Cobb impresses with his composure and apparent transparency. He immediately seems to trust Bill, letting him look at what he’s carrying in his sports bag.

For his part, Bill stubbornly tries to justify his immoral hobby. In bad faith, he proudly shares the rules he’s set for himself to frame his amateur spying activity—rules he doesn’t actually follow.

Cobb quickly introduces him to a higher level of manipulation. Barely ten minutes into the film, we see them breaking into strangers’ homes and rearranging their personal belongings more for fun than for profit. Whether for artistic interest or the pleasure of meddling in strangers’ private lives, the two clearly use their victims as mere objects to play with.

Beyond his violations of Kantian morality, Bill displays one of the worst flaws detested by the ancient Greeks: impudence and presumption. He convinces himself he can break free from his mentor and claim the full powers of a new career as an artistic burglar. He has the audacity to separate from Cobb, believing he has mastered the art. Even after taking a beating from Cobb, Bill lacks the wisdom to realize his mistake.

I don’t believe "Following" draws its roots from ancient Greece. But it does feature the common theme of a mortal trying to fly too close to the sun and being thoroughly destroyed by circumstances.

Likewise, I don’t think Christopher Nolan’s work is consciously meant as an illustration of Kantian morality.

From the start, by giving himself the right to follow strangers in the street, the main character commits an infraction against Kant’s categorical imperative, which commands us never to reduce others to a means for our own ends. For Bill, following strangers is exciting and has an artistic appeal for him.

His encounter with Cobb accelerates the violation of Kantian morality. They give themselves the right to violate strangers’ privacy and impact their lives in unexpected ways. Cobb teaches him various psychological manipulation techniques—how to use others’ weaknesses to achieve his own goals.

These discoveries excite the main character, and the gravity of his criminal experiences quickly intensifies.

The punishment inflicted on the main character is Kantian retribution rather than divine justice.

Kantian morality is rational. The idea of forbidding ourselves from treating others as a means to our own ends rather than as people worthy in themselves comes from reason. Reason determines that a world where everyone treats others as things to exploit would make justice and social life impossible.

Through his decisions and actions, the main character has symbolically destroyed the foundation that makes it possible to trust others and be treated fairly. By treating others as tools, he opened the door to being used himself as the scapegoat for a murder he didn’t commit. He becomes a pawn in the game of someone more skillful than himself.

The Kantian moral themes present in Christopher Nolan’s "Following" are:

• autonomy: Gradually, the main character denies others’ autonomy by following them in the street and then breaking into their homes.
• moral blindness: The main character claims his intentions are noble. He wants to understand others and improve his art. However, intentions cannot excuse moral infractions.
• illusion of control: Bill believes he’s in control and sees himself as a kind of superhuman who can change others’ lives, when in fact he’s the one being manipulated.

The greatness of "Following" is that the main character’s impudence is punished by the same kind of infraction he himself committed. The rational moral order defended by Kant imposes itself. By straying from the limits of rational morality, the main character becomes vulnerable to the same kind of dehumanization he practiced on others—taken to the extreme.

translated from french by GPT-4.1 following prompt: "can you translate this blog post in english? keep the same tone"