A German romantic sci-fi comedy. This could be terrible I hear you say. It is not. It’s bloody marvellous. Alma (Maren Eggert) is a scientist who’s reluctantly got herself embroiled in an experiment to live with a robot, a new humanoid to study its… his, learning capabilities and how he might function as a life partner. She’s skeptical to say the least, but Tom (Dan Stevens) is very charming and her studies stand to benefit if she goes along with it. On the surface it sounds clinical, but there’s warmth at its heart. Much like Stevens who makes a great robot. He’s delightfully innocent and knowledgable in equal measure. Designed to be perfectly tailored for Alma, her reluctance brings a game like quality to their interactions. Together they make a great screen team and have me smiling, chuckling and even laughing out loud on several occasions. If you want to be cynical, there are a few glaring plot holes, but not a single one matters. Tom is carefree, wide eyed, wants to live. Most of all he wants this for Alma too. Her life isn’t quite that easy to fix though. Her soul’s been trained to crave it’s own space, her trust near impossible to attain. Too many things in her life haven’t worked out. There’s a “Deep and insurmountable gulf” between them, but perhaps these things about Alma are the very things that might bridge that gulf. A beautifully played modern love story. With a beautiful piano score. Balancing sentiment and reality wonderfully.
8/10
