This was a frustrating film for me: a German science-fiction romantic film by a director, Maria Schrader, who I feel has no background and no interest in science-fiction. One problem is that the premise has been explored before, such as the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back for example. This might be fine as there is always more to add to the subject but this film demonstrates no awareness of previously existing interpretations and has zero interest in exploring the physical practicalities of such an android and the implications of the technology beyond the socio-cultural sphere. The film is excellent in other respects and even has a worthy argument to advance but it’s just terrible at being science-fiction.

In order to unlock funding, archaeologist Alma Felser reluctantly joins a pilot program in which she lives with a robot designed to be the ideal romantic partner. The robot named Tom is completely lifelike and excels in computational tasks as expected but is also surprisingly competent at socializing with others and understanding what makes Alma happy. Alma is resistant towards treating Tom as a partner and orders him to just keep out of her way to get through the trial period. While Tom’s romantic overtures fail, he manages to get closer to her anyway by helping her with her research work and getting along well with her ex Julian. When Alma finally tries to have sex with Tom out of frustration and to know what it’s like, he actually turns her away, saying that the moment is not appropriate. Later when Alma takes him with her to visit her ailing father, she realizes that the company who designed Tom probably based him on an old childhood crush that she had while traveling in Denmark but had forgotten himself.

This is best thought of as a romantic film with a science-fiction twist as it makes no effort whatsoever to elucidate on how Tom actually works or what his precise limits are. We know for example that Tom doesn’t need to eat but we have no idea how he is powered. There is also inconsistency in just how human-like and sophisticated Tom behaves: he is able to understand how Alma may be upset by someone else publishing similar research in her field before she does and sympathizes with her wanting to have a child. Yet when Alma orders him to stay in a coffee shop to keep out of her way, he dumbly stands in the rain when Alma runs late because the shop has closed. Most films on the subject seek to explore whether or not the AI are truly sapient. The central insight of this film however sidesteps that question entirely. Instead it posits that even if AI offered the potential of an ideal romantic partner, it would be wrong to take it up because such a partner in being completely compliant and fulfilling every need so easily removes any possibility of growth and so would be inhuman. It would also ruin humans’ ability to form natural relationships with other humans and destroy society.

Yet it is easy to see that the validity of this assertion depends entirely on whether or not an AI like Tom is sapient or not and so the question cannot be bypassed. If Tom is truly sapient then he must be capable of growth and change and hence his affections for Alma cannot be static. In this case, a relationship between Alma and Tom would be no different from a relationship with a human. However if Tom is just a mindless simulacrum then Tom is just a glorified sex toy and most of the tension in this film just dissolves away. The scene where Alma feels that gestures like cooking eggs to get them just right are empty because Tom doesn’t eat simply reinforce the fact that the physical practicalities of how Tom actually works matter and are not something that can be abstracted away. If Tom is sapient, just because he has a robotic body doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have sustenance and maintenance needs of his own. In that case, the intimacy between the couple can be nurtured by performing the actions that are actually useful and necessary for the well-being of each partner.

I note that this is a very well reviewed and highly regarded film so it’s especially important to carefully critique this film. To my mind, it’s a typical example of what happens when a non-genre creative artist attempts to work in the sphere of science-fiction without really understanding what has come before. I’m even setting aside the implausibility of the worldbuilding in which such lifelike and reliable technology is available and yet the world remains essentially identical to our own. This is all the more puzzling when the film makes a point of showing Alma’s ailing father who clearly needs a robot caregiver a lot more than Alma needs a robot lover and the robot wouldn’t even need to be sapient. Why didn’t she just order Tom to stay at her father’s house and help him out if she is so eager to get rid of him? I would suggest that the concept of whether or not a romantic partner who is too good to be true and acquiesces to your will and demands in all matters is ultimately stifling is worth exploring. But whether or not such a partner is a robot is irrelevant.