Sophie Thatcher is on a roll. From her role as young Natalie inYellowjackets to her star turn as Sister Barnes in Heretic, she is without a doubt one of Gen Z’s most prominent scream queens. Her latest movie Companion is no different. In the new film, she plays a companion robot named Iris. Much the sleeper 2023 hit M3GAN, the film is a clear commentary on our growing dependency on technology and how it impacts dating and human connection in general. But viewers begin to realize we’re only scratching after the film delivers one of the biggest plot twists in modern memory, as well as one of the best arguments for not judging a book (or film) by it’s cover.
Spoilers ahead!
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Plenty of viewers went into Companion thinking Iris would be the main antagonist and her “boyfriend” Josh played by Jack Quaid would be the hero in this story, but that’s not the case here. In time, we realize that Josh is the bad guy and Iris is the protagonist. Josh manipulates Iris’ programming to get her to unalive this millionaire they were staying with so that he can steal his money and have Iris take the fall. We begin to see more of Josh’s personality throughout the film, revealing him as an overly-entitled “nice-guy” type who sees her as nothing more than an object.
This poses a stark contrast to the relationship between gay couple Patrick and Eli, where it is revealed that Patrick is another companion, but where Josh sees Iris as an object, Eli has genuine feelings for his partner. In one scene, Patrick reveals to Eli that while he know’s he’s a companion bot, their love is real. The queer couple’s romance is the most organic in the film, and it’s honestly nice to see in contrast to the toxic relationship dynamics we see between the main couple.
If you loved M3GAN and Ex Machina, Companion might be just your style.
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