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Alicia Vikander: is she human or not? The question that troubles the cast of Ex Machina |
Director: Alex Garland
Cast: Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb Smith), Alicia Vikander (Ava),
Oscar Isaac (Nathan Bateman), Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko)

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a low-level coder working for a
Google-like organisation founded by genius inventor Nathan Bateman (Oscar
Isaac). Caleb wins a competition to spend a week at the reclusive home of
Bateman, a solitary modernist house cum
research station in the middle of a secluded forest. Nathan wants Caleb to
conduct a series of interviews with his new invention – an android named Ava
(Alicia Vikander), as part of a Turing Test to ascertain if she is truly
intelligent or not. However, over the week, the mysteries of the house darken –
and, as Caleb begins to develop strong feelings for Ava, the question arises of
who is manipulating whom.
Ex Machina is a
confident, fascinating piece of film-making from first-time director Alex
Garland, who also writes a screenplay stuffed with ideas. It challenges and
provokes discussion, carefully outlining a story of deception and
counter-deception, demanding multiple viewings to unpick truth from lie.
Garland is also a brilliant chamber-piece director, drawing fantastic
performances from his cast, and shooting the secluded house in such a range of
styles and angles that it feels both expressive and claustrophobic. Ex Machina is an extremely intelligent
small-scale discussion piece, which would make as terrific a play as it does a
film.
Among its themes is the question of man striving for god-like
control. Nathan, a prickly, socially uneasy and unempathetic person, wants God’s
mantle – and is willing to treat his creations with the same ruthless
indifference, he demonstrates to Caleb, and the users of his search-engine. His
knowledge of humanity is based on essentially stealing an understanding of our
thoughts and desires from our search histories, so creating artificial
intelligence is simply a progression from the control he already has.
It’s especially creepy that the androids Nathan creates are all
attractive young women. Throughout, the film explores the attitudes men have to
women. To Nathan, it’s increasingly clear they are objects. He proudly brags about
how Ava is both sexually attractive and fully capable of experiencing sex. He
treats his housemaid (and sexual partner) Kyoko with a contempt bordering on
outright cruelty. Nathan is possessive – and you suspect it’s logical to him to
make the first in the next generation of his perfect race as a woman,
subservient to him.
Caleb has a healthy but romanticised view of women –he
wishes to see himself as white knight, sweeping in to save the woman he loves. He
has a lovestruck, teenage protectiveness and devotion towards Ava – qualities,
the film suggests, make him ripe for manipulation (the question being from
whom). Caleb’s entire attitude towards women is protective – he is increasingly
disgusted by Nathan’s vileness – but still in its way paternal. Caleb is naïve
and strangely innocent, prone to hero worship – and his initial devotion to
Nathan slowly transfers to Ava.
A lot of this works because Alicia Vikander’s Ava is such a
fascinatingly elliptical figure. Vikander and Garland skilfully leave you
guessing: just how human is Ava? Under observation from Nathan, her discussions
with Caleb seem cold and functional. During the many brief power cuts that
blight the lab, when they are alone from CCTV, she appears to be far more emotional
and tender. But what does she feel for Caleb? Is it genuine feeling – or an
approximation designed to draw Caleb in? Her desire for freedom is a genuine
human feeling – but how is she going about this? In scenes where we glimpse her
alone, Vikander’s movement and expression are neutrally unreadable. It’s a
fascinating superb performance from Vikander, both tender and gentle and also unsettling
and creepy.
The script never loses its way, and never gets overwhelmed
by cheap thrills. There are moments of violence and danger – and the ending of becomes
increasingly dark – but it all seems a very natural progression. Because the
ideas of seeking freedom from oppressive masters – and mankind looking to abuse
the powers of the gods over their creations – feel very real and true. These
are ideas that are endlessly fascinating – and the film explores them in
brilliant detail, without ever flagging, becoming bogged down in tedious
discussion, or letting its ideas overwhelm the plot.
Ex Machina is a
fascinating film, brilliantly acted – Isaac and Gleeson are quite simply superb
as two very different tech geeks, struggling with ideas about humanity they can
scarcely begin to understand and express. The effects to create Ava are extraordinary (and Oscar-winning). Alex Garland makes himself as a
director of true promise – and Ex Machina
is a film that can take its place as one of the compelling, intelligent and
intriguing science-fiction films of the 2010s.
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