Provocative but wholly unoriginal, exceptionally dull, dreary, disinteresting, and nonsensical - the effects of replicating people and the reasons for doing it are captured in far more elegant evaluations through the films of others.
11 Reviews
Androids and memories--a philosophical perspective captured on film
JuguAbraham5 November 2020
Android sci-fi and memories. Androids that eat regular food and smell "cigarettes and sunscreen." Recalls elements of a superior US play/movie called "Marjorie Prime." The regeneration of androids with memories is scary in the real world. The first segment implies sexual relationships, though no explicit scene is shown. The relationship of animals with androids and humans are a minor subplot (a cat in one segment, a dog in the other. The reincarnated android is bizarre but typical of the horror genre; yet this is not a horror film. The title of the film is also the title of an unrelated book on philosophy by E M Cioran in French, written using aphorisms. "Marjorie Prime'' was comparatively a superior sci-fi film on memories and the importance of virtual human beings.
Not Bad, Not Great
starfield-860205 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
First off, the movie does not "normalize pedophilia" in any way shape or form.
Yes, it is implied that the 1st owner of this robot uses it for sex, and it appears to be designed to accommodate that purpose. Good. It's not my cup of tea, but it's great that a real child isn't being abused. I give the film credit for even approaching this controversial subject, as modern sex dolls are about the only preventative measure that actually has the potential of protecting children. Yet others would prefer that we all scream about "normalizing pedophilia" go back to doing absolutely nothing to prevent real child abuse from occurring. Blind hatred of those with minor attractions has never protected any child.
As for solid reasons not to like this movie: the pacing is the so slow that the entire film could be shorted to 30 minutes without loosing much of anything. It is confusing with nothing explained, and the ending is sad.
Yes, it is implied that the 1st owner of this robot uses it for sex, and it appears to be designed to accommodate that purpose. Good. It's not my cup of tea, but it's great that a real child isn't being abused. I give the film credit for even approaching this controversial subject, as modern sex dolls are about the only preventative measure that actually has the potential of protecting children. Yet others would prefer that we all scream about "normalizing pedophilia" go back to doing absolutely nothing to prevent real child abuse from occurring. Blind hatred of those with minor attractions has never protected any child.
As for solid reasons not to like this movie: the pacing is the so slow that the entire film could be shorted to 30 minutes without loosing much of anything. It is confusing with nothing explained, and the ending is sad.
Provocative, but not for the reasons you might first assume
Jeremy-68123 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The Trouble With Being Born is an atmospheric German language art film about a ten year old girl named Elli, who is soon revealed to be not a girl at all, but an android. Partly inspired by public debates over the possibility of "childlike" sex robots, the film thankfully doesn't spend much screentime on this aspect of Elli's function, although most of the film's critics have fixated on it.
Since it isn't integral to the plot, why did the filmmaker, Austrian Sandra Wollner, suggest that the android was used as a sex toy by one of its owners at all? Perhaps because the viewer's instinctive empathy for the robot begins to feel increasingly absurd as its lack of humanity becomes more apparent. The shape of the android encourages the viewer to interpret what happens to it in the familiar terms of human relationships, and to recognize familiar filmic motifs in the events depicted on screen. But as much as Elli attempts to mimic a human girl, the cracks in this facade and the shortcomings of her programming soon become apparent, requiring us to reevaluate our assumptions. (Skip the next two paragraphs if you don't want to read spoilers about the plot of the film.)
Like much else in the film, the extent of Elli's self-awareness remains open to interpretation. For example on two occasions, once for each of her owners, Elli is shown sobbing in her bed. But is this a real emotional reaction, a behavior that has been programmed into her, or one that she has developed through machine learning aimed at provoking a parental response? Her declarations to her first owner (her "Papa"), such as "I'm always going to be with you," and "I miss you all the time," are reminiscent of the phrases that a plastic doll would emit when its string is pulled. Although there are moments when her behaviors seem very naturalistic, the mask falls at other moments, such as when she passively observes her second owner bleeding to death.
Despite the opacity of Elli's thought processes, we can observe her getting stuck in the same loops of speech and behavior. The identity that she has constructed for herself from the scraps of memories shared by her owners both defines her, but also constrains her. At times, the non-linear telling of the narrative leaves the viewer as confused as we imagine Elli must be. At one point, Elli reenacts a scene from the life of Papa's real daughter that she had incorporated into her own memories. She ends up getting lost just as (we assume) the real daughter had, and is picked up by a motorist who passes her into the custody of an old woman, her second owner. Required to adopt a new identity as Emil, the woman's long-dead brother, the android attempts to weave the memories and identities of both children into its new persona, with eerie results.
The Trouble With Being Born is less a story about android psychology than about human psychology. What its two owners have in common is that neither is able to fully let go of the past, and both come to rely on the android as a companion and as a crutch-but it takes on a more fleshed out human shape in their own minds than it does as a true character in the narrative.
The film contains a couple of very short scenes in which the android appears nude in Papa's presence. For these scenes, the filmmaker took special efforts to shield the child actor from harm. On set, she wore a bikini which was digitally removed. Throughout the movie she also wore a mask and wig, and used a stage name. Although these measures go beyond the safeguards previously taken with child actors in similar scenes, the film's release has still caused controversy, including threats of doxxing and physical harm directed towards the director. The expanding grey area around the depiction of child nudity and sexuality also makes it likely that these scenes will be deleted if the film is ever shown in foreign markets.
But The Trouble With Being Born stands alone without these short scenes. It isn't a film about sex with androids. It's a visually stark and evocative film about how humans cling to their past, and seek to mould those around them into comforting shapes that can deaden the pain of past trauma. See The Trouble With Being Born with the expectation of finding it provocative-but perhaps not for the reasons you might first assume.
Since it isn't integral to the plot, why did the filmmaker, Austrian Sandra Wollner, suggest that the android was used as a sex toy by one of its owners at all? Perhaps because the viewer's instinctive empathy for the robot begins to feel increasingly absurd as its lack of humanity becomes more apparent. The shape of the android encourages the viewer to interpret what happens to it in the familiar terms of human relationships, and to recognize familiar filmic motifs in the events depicted on screen. But as much as Elli attempts to mimic a human girl, the cracks in this facade and the shortcomings of her programming soon become apparent, requiring us to reevaluate our assumptions. (Skip the next two paragraphs if you don't want to read spoilers about the plot of the film.)
Like much else in the film, the extent of Elli's self-awareness remains open to interpretation. For example on two occasions, once for each of her owners, Elli is shown sobbing in her bed. But is this a real emotional reaction, a behavior that has been programmed into her, or one that she has developed through machine learning aimed at provoking a parental response? Her declarations to her first owner (her "Papa"), such as "I'm always going to be with you," and "I miss you all the time," are reminiscent of the phrases that a plastic doll would emit when its string is pulled. Although there are moments when her behaviors seem very naturalistic, the mask falls at other moments, such as when she passively observes her second owner bleeding to death.
Despite the opacity of Elli's thought processes, we can observe her getting stuck in the same loops of speech and behavior. The identity that she has constructed for herself from the scraps of memories shared by her owners both defines her, but also constrains her. At times, the non-linear telling of the narrative leaves the viewer as confused as we imagine Elli must be. At one point, Elli reenacts a scene from the life of Papa's real daughter that she had incorporated into her own memories. She ends up getting lost just as (we assume) the real daughter had, and is picked up by a motorist who passes her into the custody of an old woman, her second owner. Required to adopt a new identity as Emil, the woman's long-dead brother, the android attempts to weave the memories and identities of both children into its new persona, with eerie results.
The Trouble With Being Born is less a story about android psychology than about human psychology. What its two owners have in common is that neither is able to fully let go of the past, and both come to rely on the android as a companion and as a crutch-but it takes on a more fleshed out human shape in their own minds than it does as a true character in the narrative.
The film contains a couple of very short scenes in which the android appears nude in Papa's presence. For these scenes, the filmmaker took special efforts to shield the child actor from harm. On set, she wore a bikini which was digitally removed. Throughout the movie she also wore a mask and wig, and used a stage name. Although these measures go beyond the safeguards previously taken with child actors in similar scenes, the film's release has still caused controversy, including threats of doxxing and physical harm directed towards the director. The expanding grey area around the depiction of child nudity and sexuality also makes it likely that these scenes will be deleted if the film is ever shown in foreign markets.
But The Trouble With Being Born stands alone without these short scenes. It isn't a film about sex with androids. It's a visually stark and evocative film about how humans cling to their past, and seek to mould those around them into comforting shapes that can deaden the pain of past trauma. See The Trouble With Being Born with the expectation of finding it provocative-but perhaps not for the reasons you might first assume.
A Film Ashamed Of Itself
Jaymz1320 February 2022
Too timid to say what it wants to say. Too artless to be artful. Diffuse and half-formed concepts. It wants to be child pornography, but is afraid to say so. It hides its true feelings by trying to be artsy and conceptual, but gets bogged down between the lie and the truth. It fails as art. It fails as child pornography. It fails as propaganda.
Who is "papa" and why does he have an android daughter? Was there ever a real daughter? And where is "mum"? If he had a real daughter who died and replaced her with this android, why didn't he replace "mum" too? Since he's sexually involved with the child android, are we to assume he was sexually involved with his real daughter if she rever existed? Or is "papa" just some rich pervert who bought a child android? Why can't she remember certain things one moment, but then later remembers them. Are these actual memories, or just "realism" artifacts papa implants in her to enhance the feeling that he's having a loving, sexual relationship with a real daughter? Because we know that's what this movie us trying to sell: The concept that parents can indulge their sexual fantasies with their children in a healthy, loving way.
I think others that have reviewed this movie assume Elli is a replacement daughter for an organic daughter who died. I disagree. Papa is just a broken, single man with an obsession fornaked little girls. In one scene, we see him remove Elli's tongue and vagina in the morning (after a night spent together all night that "mum never would have allowed but doesn't need to know about") and wash them in the kitchen sink.
Why try to hide this message behind artifice and half-hearted artsy-fartsy bulls**t? If you really feel your deviance is nothing to be ashamed of, why then do you seem so ashamed of it? And if you're that ashamed, why air it out in the open? Just go hide in a dark closet with your pedophilia fetish and stop trying to convince us and yourself it's nothing to be ashamed of. You're embarrassing yourself.
Who is "papa" and why does he have an android daughter? Was there ever a real daughter? And where is "mum"? If he had a real daughter who died and replaced her with this android, why didn't he replace "mum" too? Since he's sexually involved with the child android, are we to assume he was sexually involved with his real daughter if she rever existed? Or is "papa" just some rich pervert who bought a child android? Why can't she remember certain things one moment, but then later remembers them. Are these actual memories, or just "realism" artifacts papa implants in her to enhance the feeling that he's having a loving, sexual relationship with a real daughter? Because we know that's what this movie us trying to sell: The concept that parents can indulge their sexual fantasies with their children in a healthy, loving way.
I think others that have reviewed this movie assume Elli is a replacement daughter for an organic daughter who died. I disagree. Papa is just a broken, single man with an obsession fornaked little girls. In one scene, we see him remove Elli's tongue and vagina in the morning (after a night spent together all night that "mum never would have allowed but doesn't need to know about") and wash them in the kitchen sink.
Why try to hide this message behind artifice and half-hearted artsy-fartsy bulls**t? If you really feel your deviance is nothing to be ashamed of, why then do you seem so ashamed of it? And if you're that ashamed, why air it out in the open? Just go hide in a dark closet with your pedophilia fetish and stop trying to convince us and yourself it's nothing to be ashamed of. You're embarrassing yourself.
The trouble with this 'movie'...
Gyogurt5 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
...is that if it landed on your watchlist solely based on IMDb synopsis - as in my case - you will feel sorely deceived and cheated somewhere between 5 and 12mn in. The obvious focus on the 'little girl' physical features and the heartless, cold and typically german tone was embarassing to the point where i stopped just before the scene where it is revealed in the most underwhelming manner that the thing is not a human, but indeed an android.
The biggest trouble with this kind of pathetic drivel, however, is that even after i returned to IMDb to properly inform myself about the film, and realized what i was actually being fed, some kind of morbid curiosity won me out and i kept watching, hoping that the sci-fi elements would soon bring some value to the otherwise unpalatable piece. And that was my biggest mistake... again.
In my opinion this is no sci-fi plot, not even trying to be sci-fi. It's just garbage about some tech which is not currently available but could very well be, as i write this review, if only investors and public demand were joining forces to promote this kind of sick paedophilia stuff.
Everything about this movie was horrendous and i found no redeeming qualities whatsoever as i kept skipping from completely dark scenes shot in a forest at night to bleak passages in the city where an old lady dies ridiculously for rejecting the attempts at intimacy from the ahem... 'android'. Finally i realized today how many awards this crap has received in film festivals and i just lost faith (yet again) in modern cinema in particular and the human race in general.
Yes pedophilia was/is rampant in society and yes it is alarmingly becoming normalized by the rich, elitist perpetuators and by such creepy productions and the incoherent acclaim it received in cinematographic circles. Apparently if AI specifically and technology at large is not used to monitor, control and supress entire populations as in China today, it has to be directed towards the most vile and basic impulses of those who hide behind the mask of artistic licence to allow perversity and depravity to become commonly accepted features in the world of tomorrow.
The only relief i get when contemplating this situation is to remember that i am neither young nor healthy and hopefully i won't be around for much longer.
1 out of 10 because negative votes are not a thing.
STAY AWAY AT ALL COST if you are still human.
The biggest trouble with this kind of pathetic drivel, however, is that even after i returned to IMDb to properly inform myself about the film, and realized what i was actually being fed, some kind of morbid curiosity won me out and i kept watching, hoping that the sci-fi elements would soon bring some value to the otherwise unpalatable piece. And that was my biggest mistake... again.
In my opinion this is no sci-fi plot, not even trying to be sci-fi. It's just garbage about some tech which is not currently available but could very well be, as i write this review, if only investors and public demand were joining forces to promote this kind of sick paedophilia stuff.
Everything about this movie was horrendous and i found no redeeming qualities whatsoever as i kept skipping from completely dark scenes shot in a forest at night to bleak passages in the city where an old lady dies ridiculously for rejecting the attempts at intimacy from the ahem... 'android'. Finally i realized today how many awards this crap has received in film festivals and i just lost faith (yet again) in modern cinema in particular and the human race in general.
Yes pedophilia was/is rampant in society and yes it is alarmingly becoming normalized by the rich, elitist perpetuators and by such creepy productions and the incoherent acclaim it received in cinematographic circles. Apparently if AI specifically and technology at large is not used to monitor, control and supress entire populations as in China today, it has to be directed towards the most vile and basic impulses of those who hide behind the mask of artistic licence to allow perversity and depravity to become commonly accepted features in the world of tomorrow.
The only relief i get when contemplating this situation is to remember that i am neither young nor healthy and hopefully i won't be around for much longer.
1 out of 10 because negative votes are not a thing.
STAY AWAY AT ALL COST if you are still human.
An interesting exploration of human usage of AI
WaterUDoing19 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The movie is a wide, but not deep exploration of ai in the future and how we will use it. The use of ai to be an ethical way to have sexual relationships with children is an interesting topic. The movie however does not go deep enough on the topic to give any kind of new or unique take on it. My main issue with movie is how it tackles too many issues which are not that interesting; such as the old lady at the end. When the movie jumps from topic to topic like that it feels like the movie lacks proper focus. Overall it is still a worthwhile and good watch. I give it some extra points for the discussion of pedophilia considering the lack of movies that adresses the issue with a interesting view, especially in a future context.
Just a huge miss
idonotexist8 October 2022
I didn't know what to expect going into this. I've heard the stories about the supposed subject matter and all that but i'll watch anything remotely sci fi so there we go. We got a machine? Yes i'll watch that.
What is this movie about anyway. Nobody knows in short. It feels like 2 separate movies stitched together in a rather incoherent manner. I don't like brooding drawn out movies in expose style and this is just that.. too much pointless scenes in the dark (literally blair witch project b roll forest footage...) that serve no purpose and contribute nothing.
The first part of the movie appears to be about a man who buys/acquires somehow a machine that looks like his daughter at the age she disappeared. So the machine is there to basically fill that void but it gets a little sexual because said machine is just sex doll made to look like the kid he lost. Right. So that's the part people cry about but there nothing really shown in the movie and there are more suggestive kids shows rated PG if we have to be honest. It therefore is not a love story either.
Perhaps it is a drama about the relationship between people and machines? Well, cannot be because it totally bombs at showing the whole person vs machine interaction. It tries to use horrible narration to exemplify some struggle between the real and mechanical but I just cannot care to even bother to think of it because it is so badly executed. Star trek did more with data, alita battle angel, which is a movie about fighting did more on this topic... i robot also did a better a job. Video games like detroit become human focused on this subject matter in depth and pulled it off... This here, which is supposed to be a movie about just that sort of thing, does nothing. It fails completely to the point you are wondering what am i watching. It feels like somebody had an idea, did not know what it was but made a movie about it regardless. The cast is dull. The CGI cast is equally dull. Everything is dull. Moody, boring, non engaging, non thought provoking, flat. Just bad. I cannot think of a single memorable scene or event in 90 minutes of run time. It was so nonsensical i was hoping for maybe something stupid to happen just so i have a memory 5 minutes after the credits... but alas, no. Nothing occurs that you can take with you. If i think hard enough, perhaps i will remember that the lead in the first part liked to drink. Congratulations! You have left the viewer with a memory of a man drinking his sorrows away. So unique........
Some more footage in the dark, random walking through a forest. Time for a reboot into the second part of the story. Now we have a robot, perhaps the same one from the first part (nothing is clear here - did she run away or was it a new unit) is sent to another home to again fill the void of a missing child. This time the robot is turned into a boy. The owner doesn't want it but their relatives insist and so we have this whole moody, lethargic starring at the nothing scenes that constitute of "go away i dont like you" and the machine staring blankly in some communist era german flat scene after scene.
There is no dialogue to speak of. No feelings, no soundtrack, no nothing.
This is just bad. If you were hoping for a deep movie about machine vs human run away. If you were hoping for at least something cringe worthy to watch, not it either.
If you want blandness and confusion, perfect. Step right in and inhale the disappointment.
What is this movie about anyway. Nobody knows in short. It feels like 2 separate movies stitched together in a rather incoherent manner. I don't like brooding drawn out movies in expose style and this is just that.. too much pointless scenes in the dark (literally blair witch project b roll forest footage...) that serve no purpose and contribute nothing.
The first part of the movie appears to be about a man who buys/acquires somehow a machine that looks like his daughter at the age she disappeared. So the machine is there to basically fill that void but it gets a little sexual because said machine is just sex doll made to look like the kid he lost. Right. So that's the part people cry about but there nothing really shown in the movie and there are more suggestive kids shows rated PG if we have to be honest. It therefore is not a love story either.
Perhaps it is a drama about the relationship between people and machines? Well, cannot be because it totally bombs at showing the whole person vs machine interaction. It tries to use horrible narration to exemplify some struggle between the real and mechanical but I just cannot care to even bother to think of it because it is so badly executed. Star trek did more with data, alita battle angel, which is a movie about fighting did more on this topic... i robot also did a better a job. Video games like detroit become human focused on this subject matter in depth and pulled it off... This here, which is supposed to be a movie about just that sort of thing, does nothing. It fails completely to the point you are wondering what am i watching. It feels like somebody had an idea, did not know what it was but made a movie about it regardless. The cast is dull. The CGI cast is equally dull. Everything is dull. Moody, boring, non engaging, non thought provoking, flat. Just bad. I cannot think of a single memorable scene or event in 90 minutes of run time. It was so nonsensical i was hoping for maybe something stupid to happen just so i have a memory 5 minutes after the credits... but alas, no. Nothing occurs that you can take with you. If i think hard enough, perhaps i will remember that the lead in the first part liked to drink. Congratulations! You have left the viewer with a memory of a man drinking his sorrows away. So unique........
Some more footage in the dark, random walking through a forest. Time for a reboot into the second part of the story. Now we have a robot, perhaps the same one from the first part (nothing is clear here - did she run away or was it a new unit) is sent to another home to again fill the void of a missing child. This time the robot is turned into a boy. The owner doesn't want it but their relatives insist and so we have this whole moody, lethargic starring at the nothing scenes that constitute of "go away i dont like you" and the machine staring blankly in some communist era german flat scene after scene.
There is no dialogue to speak of. No feelings, no soundtrack, no nothing.
This is just bad. If you were hoping for a deep movie about machine vs human run away. If you were hoping for at least something cringe worthy to watch, not it either.
If you want blandness and confusion, perfect. Step right in and inhale the disappointment.
How humans use and abuse one another is what this movie is truly about
subspankee7 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Honestly I don't see what all the controversy that surrounded this movie was all about anyway! This movie in no way, shape or form, proliferated or propagated the legality/legalization of child pornography. There was no real nudity from the child neither was there any sexual intercourse between the girl and the man. All in all though this was a rather boring movie that failed to take off of whatever platform that was its intended launchpad.
People fear what they do not understand and since they don't understand the reasons as to why people are attracted to children in the first place, they fear any sort of resemblance of its depiction without first seeking to understand the author's purpose or point for making such a dynamic statement.
People fear what they do not understand and since they don't understand the reasons as to why people are attracted to children in the first place, they fear any sort of resemblance of its depiction without first seeking to understand the author's purpose or point for making such a dynamic statement.
Dark Dark Dark
derek-duerden13 September 2023
I really can't understand why directors shoot films with literally no lighting. If they want me to "appreciate" what they are doing then I have to see the thing in the first place. At the beginning, I gave it the benefit of the doubt as I assumed it was some kind of "pre-birth" scene from the child's perspective but that wasn't it at all and - be warned - this happens again and again throughout the film.
As for the content itself, previously I had the Kubrick/Spielberg "AI" film down as *the* most boring film I had ever seen about child robots - but this one has it beaten hands down. At one level this presents a couple of plausible scenarios as to what grieving / damaged people might do with this kind of technology once/if it becomes available and maybe I could have worked harder to look for some kind of deep and meaningful conclusions if they are indeed there, but it didn't earn that, I felt.
Not recommended.
As for the content itself, previously I had the Kubrick/Spielberg "AI" film down as *the* most boring film I had ever seen about child robots - but this one has it beaten hands down. At one level this presents a couple of plausible scenarios as to what grieving / damaged people might do with this kind of technology once/if it becomes available and maybe I could have worked harder to look for some kind of deep and meaningful conclusions if they are indeed there, but it didn't earn that, I felt.
Not recommended.
not as deep as it tries to be
fembotlover30 December 2023
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but as another review mentions this movie is too spineless to properly say what it wants to say and not interesting enough to keep my attention with the premises it sets up, the worst part is that the most poignant and inflammatory topic is one that i feel we are starting to see pop up in real life with AI, and this movie could have tried...something anything...instead...it did nothing... not giving it a ranking since i didn't finished it but if the last 30 minutes are as dull, in the plot as the first hour, and the camera work as bad then i didn't missed anything of value.
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