If you’ve seen the trailer, or heck, even the poster of the film, it’s likely you already know that, surprise, Companion is centered on an AI robot girlfriend. Iris is played wonderfully by star Sophie Thatcher, so much of our sympathies are with her from the get-go, but the prior knowledge does undercut some of the tension– it makes the reveal less surprising. It’s understandable considering the current concerns over the tech, automatically being the draw to a fairly familiar tale of greed and betrayal. That being said, Companion still surprises not because of the sci-fi aspect, but because of the human aspect, directly cutting at the heart of the controversy with artificial intelligence. It does recognize the immediate way we would abuse this technology as a scapegoat for inhumane self-interest, the way that overcontrolling dynamic has already been inflicted upon women. But Companion also understands the awe of what that advancement could mean, echoing the freedom that many women the whole world over have already grasped for themselves.

Sophie Thatcher. That scene where she switches between multiple languages was marvelous.