I’m Your Man

Dan Stevens is an AI Mr Right in a German romcom that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert

More often than not films featuring robots tell futuristic tales that can readily be thought of as belonging to the genre of science fiction. Nevertheless, there have been a number of movies (of which I’m Your Man is the latest) which, despite having a robot as a central character, have aims that are quite different. Thus in 2012 we had Jake Schreier’s Robot & Frank which was at heart a buddy movie in which the bond between an elderly man and his robot companion was central. The better-known Her made a year later found Spike Jonze as writer/director exploring the relationship that arises when a loner (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with the voice inside his computerised operating system (Scarlett Johansson providing the voice). I’m Your Man, the third feature from the German filmmaker Maria Schrader, has its own individual character, but in spite of that it is distinctly in line with these other films.

The setting for I’m Your Man is Berlin looking very much as the city does today but presenting us with a world in which humanoid robots although still subject to tests have been developed to a very high degree. Our central human figure is Alma (Maren Eggert), a professor in her forties who works in the Pergamon Museum. Her boss (Falilou Seck) is encouraging her to participate in a scheme requiring her to make an evaluation of a robot programmed to satisfy a woman and Alma, being single, is regarded as suitable for this role which will involve her and the robot living together for some three weeks. When Alma meets the handler involved (Sandra Hüller), she is introduced to the robot assigned to her. This is Tom (Dan Stevens acting in German). As the film proceeds we meet also Alma’s senile father (Wolfgang Hübsch) and Alma’s ex (Hans Low) who has now found a new partner (Henriette Richter-Röhl). Nevertheless, the central focus is always on Alma and Tom.

The early stages of I'm Your Man find humour in the flirtatious comments and behaviour of Tom because we see in them the clichéd notions of what a man regards as the approach guaranteed to appeal to women. That Alma ridicules them and refuses to be won over is amusing in itself while also providing a friendly parody of the romantic comedies of yesteryear such as those in which Doris Day disdained Rock Hudson until she fell for him. We know, of course, that, regardless of Tom being a robot, Alma will develop feelings for him. Following this path without making the film seem silly must have been challenging, but Schrader has the skill to bring it off.

The success of I’m Your Man is due to many factors, the key one being setting a tone in which the comedy is never pushed to extremes so that we are encouraged to suspend disbelief. The presence of an ideally chosen cast aids this considerably. Maren Eggert as Alma finds a perfect balance between the comedy and those aspects of the film which exist to encourage the viewer to ponder numerous issues about human emotions. As for the wonderful Sandra Hüller (star of the 2016 hit film Toni Erdmann), she offers here in support a perfect cameo. But above all it is Dan Stevens who shines and is the out-and-out star of the movie. He captures the distanced quality that identifies Tom as a robot while also going beyond the effective comedy of those scenes to make us sense that, as time passes, his understanding of Alma increases and thus adds to his attraction as a partner. But do we feel that this is because he is somehow becoming more human or because the technology inside him is getting better at counterfeiting emotions successfully?

The appeal of this film is further enhanced by a superb music score by Tobias Wagner, one that is acutely sensitive to the exact tone required in each scene, while the adroit storytelling persuades us that 104 minutes is the ideal length. The final scene is so set up as to be open to individual interpretations and that may disappoint some, but it fits well enough with the fact that the whole film is inviting the audience to consider the possible implications of its storyline for themselves and to reach their own conclusions. What do we look for in a perfect partner and is the desire to find perfection misguided? How crucial to a good relationship is spontaneity and how important to it is shared old history even if that history is sometimes painful? Is Tom a desirable substitute for loneliness and, if it is indeed better to reject him, is it because he is programmed to make Alma happy but without her being able to do the same for him, thus eliminating the reciprocity that is at the heart of being a successful couple?

The humour ensures that I’m Your Man can encourage a discussion of such matters without becoming heavy-handed in the process and the film is undoubtedly a success, albeit one that doesn’t seem to seek to touch the heart. I’ve already referred to Robot & Frank and to Her as works with which this has kinship, but my favourite film in this mould is Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime (2017) which centred on the possibility of convincing holographs in the form of lost loved ones offering sustenance to the bereaved. It too raised questions and encouraged discussion, but the form it took also gave it an emotional impact and, for me, that makes it a masterpiece and shows up I’m Your Man as a lesser work. However, it does not stop me from regarding I’m Your Man as a highly enjoyable film and one that deserves to be recommended.

Original title: Ich bin dein Mensch.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller, Hans Low, Wolfgang Hübsch, Annika Meier, Falilou Seck, Jürgen Tarrich, Henriette Richter-Röhl, Inga Busch, Monika Oschek, Gabriel Munoz Munoz.

Dir Maria Schrader, Pro Lisa Blumenberg, Screenplay Jan Schomburg and Maria Schrader, based on a short story by Emma Braslavsky, Ph Benedict Neuenfels, Pro Des Cora Pratz, Ed Hansjörg Weißbrich, Music Tobias Wagner, Costumes Anette Guther.

Letterbox Filmproduktion GmbH production-Curzon Artificial Eye.
104 mins. Germany. 2021. Rel: 13 August 2021. Cert. 15.