The word “robot” turns 125 years old in 2025. It was originally coined by Karel Čapek for his 1920 play Rossum’s Universal Robots. It was derived from the Czech word for “slave.”
But no one is more responsible for our modern conception of robots than Isaac Asimov. In his seminal 1950 book I, Robot, he laid out the Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Asimov’s stories weren’t primarily about “gee whiz, how cool would it be to have a robot?” — although there’s plenty of that. They were about the ethical dilemmas presented by the fact that we humans have constructed autonomous beings who we expect to be our slaves.
But wait, you say. It’s not accurate to equate our relationship with machines, which are inanimate objects built for a purpose, with slavery, which is stripping the humanity from a fellow human. When I use a Roomba to vacuum the floor, it possesses no consciousness with which to experience suffering. But in the age of AI chatbots which give the illusion of sentience, that line is increasingly blurred.
Writer/director Drew Hancock’s Companion is a descendant of Asimov’s robot stories. It is near-future America, and Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) are excited about getting away for a weekend at their friend Sergey’s (Rupert Friend) secluded lake house. There, they hang out with Sergey’s girlfriend Kat (Megan Suri), as well as Patrick (Lukas Gage) and Eli (Harvey Guillén). Everyone’s supposed to be friends, but Kat seems pretty cold towards Iris. We also get the sense that Josh and Iris’ relationship may not be very healthy. He generally treats her as an afterthought, but she seems devoted to him.
Then, one morning by the pool, Sergey tries to rape Iris when no one else is around. She seems confused at first, then enraged. She pulls out a knife and plunges it into Sergey’s neck. Iris runs back to Josh, covered in blood and tears. But instead of comforting her, Josh tells her to “sleep.” Iris immediately goes limp because she’s his robot companion.
Obviously Iris violated the First Law of Robotics when she stabbed Sergey. But she was in danger of being raped, which is self defense, as defined by the Third Law, except that there’s the pesky First Law exception. So clearly, something has gone wrong here. And by the way, where did she get the knife? Most people don’t bring weapons with them when they’re lounging by the pool.
If it seems like I’m giving away too much of the plot, trust me that I’m not. Hancock’s screenplay has more than enough twists and turns in store. Even better, each plot reveal is grounded in the premise, surprising in the moment, and seems inevitable in retrospect.
Thatcher is perfect as Iris, who is forced to grapple with the very Philip K. Dick-ian revelation that she’s not a real person, but a stunningly accurate fake. At first, she leans into the robo-bimbo persona, but gets more subtle and human-like as the story progresses. The other big standout in the cast is Harvey Guillén as a conniving houseguest with secrets of his own. It’s a testament to how beloved the What We Do in the Shadows star is that when he made his entrance, half of the people in my screening pointed at him like the Leonardo DiCaprio meme.
Usually, January and February are the months when studios dump films that they don’t know what to do with into theaters. So maybe I’m just happy to see a good screenplay executed well during the dry season, but I haven’t stopped thinking about Companion since I saw it. On the surface, it’s a tight techno-thriller with a sly sense of humor. But it’s also hinting at deeper issues, not just about feminism and the nature of consent, but also about our rapidly changing relationship with technology. At what point does the Roomba deserve rights?
Companion
Now playing
Multiple locations