Companion: Aesthetic Over Substance
The trendy Valentine’s release Companion is disappointingly surface-level, but a good bit of gruesome fun.
Sophie Thatcher in Companion. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
There’s a robot, played by a well-loved, gorgeous actress. She’s revealed to be a robot made entirely to serve a man, providing him with love and sex. The distinctive color grading makes it aesthetically pleasing. What movie am I talking about? Is it Blade Runner 2049, with ‘pleasure bot’ Ana de Armas? Maybe the controversial Don’t Worry Darling? No, it’s the seemingly original Companion.
The Guardian’s review describes the film as ‘not as clever or original as it thinks it is,’ and this couldn’t be truer. For a movie exploring complex issues such as patriarchy and artificial intelligence, Companion barely scratches the surface of what could’ve been an intensely poignant film. Instead of exploring the development of villain Josh’s (played by Jack Quaid) route to buying a companion robot, or letting Iris’ (played by Sophie Thatcher) doubts set in slowly, director Drew Hancock focuses on making beautiful shots.
It is a beautiful film. The pastel-perfect costumes (designed by Vanessa Porter) that Iris wears throughout make for a perfect contrast against the woodland setting, and the pink color grading makes the universe of Companion an artistic haven. These pretty visuals clearly come from a deep well of cinematographic passion—it’s just unfortunate that this came at the expense of the plot.
The first line of the movie is one of the best. “The two happiest moments of my life were the day I met Josh, and the day I killed him.” It sets the pace for a gruesome, romance-based, expectation-subverting film. It is certainly gruesome—see Sophie Thatcher coated in blood—and romance-based—Iris’ struggle with loving Josh is well-documented—but it fails to subvert expectation over and over again. A beautiful girl, running through the woods in perfectly tousled pink clothing, from Jack Quaid. We’ve seen it all before.
The casting of Sophie Thatcher, an objectively beautiful, slim white woman, to be the companion robot is interesting in the context of the patriarchal themes. This is clearly Hancock’s critique of patriarchal images of beauty, with villain Josh creating a woman exactly fitting these standards. And yet, Hancock indulges in these beauty images anyway. The aesthetics of this movie are clearly important, and it was difficult not to watch and think, “They’d never make this movie with a fat woman.” This is not necessarily a critique of Hancock or Companion but the film industry at large. The casting of slim women coated in blood has become a trope that’s wearing thin.
Sophie Thatcher shows her capacity for nuanced, truly believable acting in Companion. The scene with her hand on fire—used in almost every trailer—is a testament to her outstanding skill. Harvey Guillén also leads every scene he’s in, with his loveable, hilarious performance.
Companion is currently at a staggering 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the praise is not unfounded; it’s a fun, frightful fest. However, I’m inclined to agree with David Sims of The Atlantic: “Companion is at best a mean little confection, no matter how much you know going into it: amusing, occasionally thrilling, but not something with the capability to linger.”
