I'm Your Man (2021)

Maren Eggert: Alma

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Quotes 

• Alma : Human history is full of supposed improvements whose dire consequences only become clear decades or even centuries later. After my experience with a humanoid robot named Tom, I can say with certainty that a robot designed to replace a husband or wife is one such supposed improvement. There's no doubt that a humanoid robot tailored to individual preferences can not only replace a partner, but can even seem to be the better partner. They fulfill our longings, satisfy our desires and eliminate our feeling of being alone. They make us happy. And what could be wrong with being happy? But are humans really intended to have all their needs met at the push of a button? Is it not our unfulfilled longing, our imagination and our unending pursuit of happiness that are the sources of our humanity? If we allow humanoids as spouses, we will create a society of addicts, gorged and weary from having their needs permanently met and from a constant flow of personal acknowledgement. What impetus would we have to confront conventional individuals, to challenge ourselves, to endure conflicts, to change? It's to be expected that anyone who lives with a humanoid long term will become incapable of sustaining normal human contact. I strongly advise against authorizing humanoids as life partners.

• Alma : I'm acting in a play. But there's no audience. All the seats are empty. I'm not even acting for you. I'm all alone. I'm only acting for myself. Even right now, I'm only talking to myself. It's not a dialogue.

• Alma : When I was 14, I went to a party. I sat alone at night on the terrace. My classmates were dancing in the cellar. I looked out at the townhouses and suddenly I knew that God didn't exist. And I became an atheist. I made a vow to myself back then. If I'm in an airplane that's on fire, I'm not going to pray. I won't ask the Lord for help, just out of fear. Because I don't believe in God. Do you understand?

  Tom : Yes.

  Alma : Really?

  Tom : You won't allow yourself to become close to a machine out of desperation and longing for human contact.

  Alma : There's a gulf between us. We can pretend it doesn't exist, pretend the illusion is just another form of reality, but certain things highlight just how deep and insurmountable that gulf is.

  Tom : What things?

  Alma : Things you don't understand. Things that make you sad the second you think of them, even if you don't want to. Things you long for or missed out on that will never return.

  Tom : Can you show me these things?

• Tom : Don't humans say "love knows no bounds"?

  Alma : That's always been a lie.

• Alma : This was all for fucking nothing! Three years of research up in smoke!

  Tom : The study is important for the people. It shows that there was always deeper meaning. That people have always played with words, always created poetry for poetry's sake alone. Humanity should be informed of that and they will be. The outcome remains the same

  Alma : Maybe for humanity, but not for me. Not for me!

  Tom : So the tears in your eyes only relate to yourself and your career? They're egotistical tears.

• Tom : You've lost a child. At your age, you probably won't be able to have another one. You're sad because you would've liked to have experienced that. You feel cast aside because Julian is having another baby and will forget this one. Maybe you think of your father, that you might end up as lonely as he is and you won't even have children to take care of you. I can understand that. It's very easy to understand.

  Alma : It sounds banal when you say it. Banal and self-indulgent and pathetic.

  Tom : It is pathetic. Your pain is pathetic because it's relative. But it's also not pathetic, because it's part of you and that's why I love it.

• Mitarbeiterin : You may not realize, but your treat Tom like a machine.

  Alma : Yes, I definitely realized that.

  Mitarbeiterin : Why do you think that is?

  Alma : Because he is a machine.

  Mitarbeiterin : Could you be underestimating him? Tom, how does Alma's treatment make you feel?

  Alma : Don't act you don't know. He can't feel anything. He has no feelings. He's programmed to simulate emotion, but has no real emotions.

  Mitarbeiterin : Why don't we let Tom answer?

  Tom : I think Alma needs more time.

  Alma : According to our extensive analysis, Tom is the partner you have the best chances of being happy with.

  Alma : Tom is programmed to fulfill my needs. He's just an extension of my own self. Don't you see?

  Mitarbeiterin : Do you seek friction in relationships?

  Alma : Yes! Of course I do.

  Mitarbeiterin : Tom, would you consider creating more friction, if it's important to Alma? If she...

  Alma : Okay. I'm done. Either you're an idiot, or you're a robot as well.

  [pause] 

  Alma : Are you a robot?

• Tom : What does it feel like to have an orgasm?

  Alma : It's... it's like dissolving. You dissolve and... you're part of something bigger.

• Alma : You do realize you're being invasive!

  Dekan Roger : Why? It's just...

  Alma : How would you feel if someone just touched your face and your hair?

  Dekan Roger : Well, it's happened to me hundred times, but this is different.

• Tom : I just stood there. They don't see me as a danger. I don't smell like a human.

  Alma : What do you smell like for the deer?

  Tom : They don't even notice me. I smell like nothing to them.

• Alma : They test me, scan my brain, give me non-stop surveys, then they feed those things with so-called mind files from 17 million people: traits, views, feelings... It's super complex, and God knows how much it costs. And what's the result? "Your eyes are like two mountain lakes I could sink into."

• Alma : [Alma finds Tom in the museum at night]  How did you get in here?

  Tom : I'm a computer system. The lock system is a computer. We help each other out once on a while.

  Alma : Really?

  Tom : No. I took your spare card.

• Alma : I pulled the covers up for you, even though you can't get cold. I tiptoe out of the room, even though you don't sleep. I tried to make you a perfect boiled egg, even though you couldn't care less if it's hard or soft boiled. You don't even have to eat. I'm acting in a play. But there's no audience. All the seats are empty. I'm not even acting for you. I'm all alone. I'm only acting for myself. Even right now, I'm only talking to myself. It's not a dialogue. I'm turning into a lunatic, a nutcase... a grinning idiot, and this has to stop.