My Husband, the Cyborg
Susanna Cappellaro's deeply intimate documentary follows the bionic enhancement of her husband.
Image courtesy of Cyborg’s Wife.
As is evidenced by its title, Susanna Cappellaro's documentary feature can claim to have very unusual subject matter but what emerges on screen can only be described as an opportunity squandered. The husband of the title is Scott Cohen whose wife is none other than Cappellaro herself so the film could hardly be more personal. Their relationship has lasted for more than a decade regardless of the fact that Cappellaro describes them as being very different people. That fact became more evident than ever before when Scott declared that he had become intent on having an implant put in his body. Although she could not see things his way, Cappellaro decided to share his experiences through making this film about how it went. Starting out just before his first implant the filming would ultimately extend over thirty-two months.
Cappellaro provides the voice-over commentary so the film is very much from her viewpoint in every sense. Nevertheless, what one expects from it is clarification of what becoming some kind of a cyborg means to people like Scott and why it is so important to them. Look up the word in a dictionary and ‘cyborg’ is described as extending human physical ability by means of mechanical elements built into the body. For Scott it involves an implanted extrasensory device which detects the earth’s electromagnetic field. Quite apart from his dislike of needles, having this done leads to Scott initially feeling pain for some months but when it comes to describing what he has gained from the implant he finds no words that adequately convey it. What it does is to give him a new sense that enables him to know at any given moment in which direction north lies. But all we get by way of amplification is that this ‘mind modification’ as he describes it affects his sense of space and causes him to feel the planet. Vague as all this is, he nevertheless puts in a huge claim for it at the close of the film: "It's the future of humanity". Earlier he has likened the change to being able to see the world in colour when previously it had only been visible in black-and-white. But the notion of extending human boundaries in this way, of experiencing new perceptions, cries out for detailed illustration and elaboration if it is to become meaningful to others.
This failure to measure up to what is required is undoubtedly a major issue here, but so too is the film’s failure to make us understand Cappellaro's position. Initially she is unable to embrace the supposed benefits on which Scott places so much importance preferring instead to focus on things through the senses that we already have. Furthermore, her physical contact with Scott is limited by the need to avoid any pressure on the painful area in his chest following the implant. She does later go to Reading to speak to a university professor, Kevin Warwick, who had also experimented with an implant. However, what she learns is that that had been but a brief affair and one in which his wife had willingly shared. On a subsequent visit to Italy, it becomes apparent that Susanna’s mother who lives there cannot understand the appeal of implants at all.
But then, just when there seems every reason to believe that My Husband, the Cyborg will be essentially critical of Scott's ideas, his wife takes a trip to Stockholm, talks to another man who has had an implant done and is suddenly making the surprising and inexplicable declaration that she does not want to be left behind. Her volte-face does not involve copying Scott directly since her decision to have an implant is unrelated to his North Sense device and consists instead of having a magnet inserted into one of her fingers. She describes this as her secret superpower but, since it only enables her to pick up small metallic objects that have become magnetised, this too suggests a painful operation which yields nothing of value.
The one thing that can be said in favour of My Husband, the Cyborg is that its subject matter is intriguingly novel even if we recently had one other feature film on comparable issues, Cyborg: A Documentary. But in any case, the appeal of Cappellero’s film feels strictly limited. For one thing it suggests a home movie in the sense that it plays like something made by people just for themselves and therefore lacking any need to elaborate the context. Consequently, My Husband, the Cyborg is a film that makes no attempt to provide outside viewers with any detailed background about the couple. There is a trip to see Scott’s parents in New York and we learn that he is Jewish but, while we see Scott and Susanna in such places as Venice, Guatemala and Bulgaria, the fact that Susanna Cappellaro is an actress is not mentioned and there's only a very brief reference to Scott’s role in the music industry. Just how that fits in with his deep involvement with the North Sense implant device is never fully detailed although Liviu Babitz, who appears briefly, is described as its co-inventor. The impression that we are ultimately left with is that Scott is an obsessive and that Susanna herself is so muddled in her attitude that she never becomes a useful commentator. Anyone already sharing Scott Cohen's outlook may well be fascinated by this film, but it offers almost nothing of value to viewers of a questioning disposition who seek it out hoping to gain an insight into the viewpoint of those who envisage a future world in which humans can and should have enhanced senses through the use of technology.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Susanna Cappellaro, Scott Cohen, Pelle Almqvist, Kevin Warwick, Liviu Babitz, Sharin Foo, Songhai Maibert, Leonore ‘Lynn’ Cohen, Liliana ‘Mamma’ Mengato, Hannes Sjoblad, Lina Osterman.
Dir Susanna Cappellaro, Pro Susanna Cappellaro and Dorothea Gibbs, Screenplay Susanna Cappellaro, Ph Susanna Cappellaro, Claire Oakley, Oskar Killander, Robin Ibanez and Dorothy Kay, Ed Maya Maffioli and Susanna Scarpa, Music Sune Rose Wagner.
Cyborg’s Wife-Cyborg’s Wife.
93 mins. UK. 2025. UK Rel: 14 February 2025. No Cert.
