I’m Your Man
Directed by Maria Schrader
Running time: 1hr45 | REVIEWED BY CATHERINE BRAY
Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert star in I’m Your Man
From The Stepford Wives to Ex Machina to the fabulous fur-trimmed fembots in Austin Powers, there are countless examples in cinema of female robots designed to embody some version of heterosexual male fantasy. There are fewer examples of male sexbots, with the point about artificial men more often being their slightly creepy sexlessness — think Michael Fassbender in Alien: Covenant.
Directed with empathy and precision by Maria Schrader, I’m Your Man is a witty and moving look at human relationships, through the illuminating framework of a non-human relationship. Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) is perfectly cast as Tom the romantic robot, in a performance that reminded me of another Tom: the megastar Tom Cruise. It’s not that his performance resembles Tom Cruise as we experience Tom Cruise when he stars in a movie. It’s Tom Cruise when he’s performing the public persona of Tom Cruise™: the intense Tom Cruise™ eye-contact, the patented high-level attentiveness, the charming impression of intimacy perfected and delivered as part of your Tom Cruise™ experience.
I love films that ask big questions, interrogating the most basic fundamentals of what it is we’re actually all doing here, with our lives, on this planet, but without making a big deal out of the fact that this is what they’re doing. I’m Your Man is exactly that type of film. Funny, melancholy and smart, you can watch it to relax and be entertained and it will certainly deliver on those fronts — but there is also more going on beneath that manicured, charming façade than you might think at first glance. And you’ll also get to enjoy Maren Eggert’s character drunkenly demanding, “So what’s the deal with your cock?” As I say, it’s a film that asks big questions.
I’M YOUR MAN (2021) Written by Jan Schomburg, Maria Schrader | Shot by Benedict Neuenfels | Edited by Hansjörg Weißbrich
In cinemas and available on Curzon Home Cinema now.
