The movie starts with an interesting concept, but it fails to follow that concept to any sort of meaningful ending.
Having experienced a tragic miscarriage some years earlier, a failed relationship (with a partner who has since moved on to a happy relationship with his now pregnant bride), and now a major professional disappointment, stressed-out Alma has an opportunity to experience a temporary window of pleasure, even happiness, with robot Tom.
However, Alma's intellect drives most of her actions and decisions with respect to Tom. And that intellect tells her that because Tom is a robot, their "relationship" isn't real, and any feelings she may develop for him won't be valid.
Thus, while Anna may have a few genuine moments of fun and pleasure with Tom, for the most part she maintains a certain detachment, always aware that it's a "facsimile" relationship.
And that makes for a rather boring movie.
I admit I was sometimes frustrated by Alma's detached demeanor, since it kept me from caring about her or her relationship with Tom.
But then I would think about the position in which Alma finds herself. She knows that her time with Tom is a mere few weeks. Despite the suggestion that when your life is falling apart, there's nothing wrong with reaching out for a lifeline--which Alma does, briefly--she has to weigh the momentary pleasure of "now" against the sadness she will feel if she allows herself to get close to Tom and then has to say goodbye in 21 days.
No wonder Alma wants to end the experiment early. She's not really equipped to handle it.
We do find out somewhere during the movie--if I read the subtitles correctly--that another participant in the three-week "robot test drive" is so happy with his robot companion, he is in negotiations to see about keeping her longer. (I'm not sure exactly how long.)
This *could* have been a game changer in the movie. Would Alma change the way she interacted with robot Tom if she suddenly learned that she could be with him for a much longer time (presumably, years)? Would she take a chance on the "validity" of love with a robot who would never experience actual feelings for her, but whose programming could bring pleasure to her life? Given the chance to be with him long-term, could she, a human, be satisfied with his/their "imitation love"?
Unfortunately, the movie does not go in this direction. Rather, it just loses momentum until it fades to black. I have not read the short story, but I wonder if it is also strong on the "what if" element but weak on the execution.
Having experienced a tragic miscarriage some years earlier, a failed relationship (with a partner who has since moved on to a happy relationship with his now pregnant bride), and now a major professional disappointment, stressed-out Alma has an opportunity to experience a temporary window of pleasure, even happiness, with robot Tom.
However, Alma's intellect drives most of her actions and decisions with respect to Tom. And that intellect tells her that because Tom is a robot, their "relationship" isn't real, and any feelings she may develop for him won't be valid.
Thus, while Anna may have a few genuine moments of fun and pleasure with Tom, for the most part she maintains a certain detachment, always aware that it's a "facsimile" relationship.
And that makes for a rather boring movie.
I admit I was sometimes frustrated by Alma's detached demeanor, since it kept me from caring about her or her relationship with Tom.
But then I would think about the position in which Alma finds herself. She knows that her time with Tom is a mere few weeks. Despite the suggestion that when your life is falling apart, there's nothing wrong with reaching out for a lifeline--which Alma does, briefly--she has to weigh the momentary pleasure of "now" against the sadness she will feel if she allows herself to get close to Tom and then has to say goodbye in 21 days.
No wonder Alma wants to end the experiment early. She's not really equipped to handle it.
We do find out somewhere during the movie--if I read the subtitles correctly--that another participant in the three-week "robot test drive" is so happy with his robot companion, he is in negotiations to see about keeping her longer. (I'm not sure exactly how long.)
This *could* have been a game changer in the movie. Would Alma change the way she interacted with robot Tom if she suddenly learned that she could be with him for a much longer time (presumably, years)? Would she take a chance on the "validity" of love with a robot who would never experience actual feelings for her, but whose programming could bring pleasure to her life? Given the chance to be with him long-term, could she, a human, be satisfied with his/their "imitation love"?
Unfortunately, the movie does not go in this direction. Rather, it just loses momentum until it fades to black. I have not read the short story, but I wonder if it is also strong on the "what if" element but weak on the execution.