Companion

This dark comedy works as both a satirical commentary on modern relationships, and as a gripping thriller in its own right.  The small cast are all great, but Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid in particular stand out and continue to shine in everything they’re in.

Premise:  When Josh (Jack Quaid) brings his new girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) to a weekend away with his friends and their partners at a lakehouse, there’s obvious tension between Iris and Kat (Megan Suri), Josh’s longtime friend.  But soon events take an unexpectedly violent turn…

Review:

Like Abigail before it, Companion has a major twist that was (perhaps understandably) given away in its marketing.  Hell, it was on every poster for the film, so even if you avoided the trailers, you probably knew going in that Companion was not a straight-up relationship drama/thriller.  Nevertheless, on the 1000-to-1 chance that you don’t yet know the twist, look away now – and just know that Companion is definitely worth a watch.

Still here?  Okay, then you probably already know that the twist that comes at the end of the first act is (*last chance to avoid minor spoilers*) that Iris (played by Sophie Thatcher) is an android, or as some of the characters indelicately put it, a ‘fu*kbot’.  But Iris is more sophisticated than most of the ‘sexbots’ we usually see in movies – she’s designed to simulate love and companionship, and not (just) be a glorified sex toy.

“…holds a mirror up to the characters’ wants, desires & attitudes to relationships…”

As such, writer/director Drew Hancock (in his feature debut) is able to use Iris to hold a mirror up to the human characters’ wants, desires and attitudes to relationships.  These androids are capable of being whatever you want them to be … so what do you want in a companion?  The film also explores various forms of toxic relationships, including issues of autonomy, coercive control, and power imbalances.  Don’t get me wrong – Companion is far more light-hearted and entertaining than films like the brilliant-but-still-quite-traumatising Blink Twice – but it nevertheless does have something real to say under its sci-fi thriller veneer.

Because as well as functioning as a darkly comic satire of toxic relationships, Companion is also a great sci-fi tinged thriller with psychological horror moments.  The sci-fi elements are a very light touch (this is a near future where, other than the companion androids themselves, the most futuristic tech is a self-driving car), so that the focus is very much on the more “grounded” elements of what might happen when an android companion’s safety protocols appear to malfunction.

“…has plenty of surprises up its sleeves…”

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, because even if (like me) you knew that Iris was really an android before you watch this film, Companion still has plenty of surprises up its sleeves.  I’ve not seen Sophie Thatcher in much, but she was brilliant in Heretic, and she’s again brilliant here, playing various aspects of Iris during the course of the movie, and in many scenes, having to portray much of her character’s inner thoughts through little more than a facial twitch or a furtive glance.

Jack Quaid brings the kind of underdog, slightly-nerdy, ‘good guy’ charm to Josh that he brought to his characters in films like Novocaine, which adds an extra dimension to Companion, while Harvey Guillén also brings a surprising amount of depth to his character, Eli, one of Josh’s core group of friends.  Megan Suri rounds out the core group as Kat, Josh’s friend who’s clearly uncomfortable around Iris (which, of course, makes sense from the start it you already know that Iris is an android), while Lukas Gage and Rupert Friend play Eli’s and Kat’s partners, Partrick and Sergey.

“…a biting, darkly comic commentary on modern relationships…”

All in all, Companion is a film that is so much more than its initial twist, and even if you know going in that Iris is an android, the film still has plenty more to offer you, both in terms of interesting plot developments, and in its biting, darkly comic commentary on modern relationships.