Without seeing the marketing material, it'd be easy to start the film under the assumption it’s for a safe palette. It starts with a meet-cute between two attractive young people at a grocery store, Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid). They exist in their own world, suspiciously alone in the store, with gazes entirely dedicated to each other. We then flash-forward to them as a couple that has been together for some time, all the rom-com fare having taken place off-screen; the two now heading to a cabin to meet friends. What starts out as an innocent rom-com takes a twisted turn into horror, when Josh makes Iris a sacrificial pawn in a criminal conspiracy. Companion is a film about male possessiveness of women and a backlash that leads to our heroine’s liberation. It facilitates this with the sci-fi premise of having the protagonist be a “companion” android; a manufactured object meant to service a male consumer.
At the start of the story, Iris is under complete control of her Josh. Josh isn’t content with having the world’s best fleshlight, nor is he content with the gaze of a woman that unquestionably “loves” him. His hunger for more spreads outward, destroying everything around him, like a radioactive leak.
This isn’t a subtle film, nor does it need to be. The film has a breezy feel to contrast its dark touch: vivid bright colors, attractive leads, stylish fashion, and lavish interiors. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, with plenty of the comedic jabs at how petty and foolish the human leads are. There is gore and violence, but it doesn’t feel excessive or oppressive. It’s quite shocking in contrast with the initial tone, a fun gotcha for anyway who isn’t expecting it. When a character meets their end, it’s a part of a messy series of fuck-ups, reminiscent of a Coen Brother’s outing. This series of violent accidents serves one purpose: to dramatize the severity of action and trauma necessary for Iris to break the chains of the role she’s expected to play.
I couldn’t help but compare it to Ex Machina (2014). As much as I love that film, it’s clearly targeted at a male audience, without an emphasis on patriarchal critique. Philosophically, this film doesn’t take a full dive into the ghost in the machine concept. There’s no hard sci-fi explanation as to why Iris is developing consciousness, and there’s no need to. To be novel in that department, it would need to bring something new to the discussion. I admit that upon watching it, I was expecting such a turn to happen. The absence of such exploration makes the film more accessible. The journey of Iris could easily be a fantasy story. Instead of the sci-fi elements, there could be a marginalized Pinocchio alongside a misogynist Geppetto. Iris’ role as a companion isn’t defined by her hardware, but by the roles she’s expected to play in a patriarchal world, defined by the seeds of expectation through her programming. It’s a story that’s fun enough to be a date-night flick, while also being thought-provoking enough for a late-night convo.