Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Companion.Due to the production involvement ofZach Cregger, the writer and director ofBarbarian,Companionpromised jolting twists and turns —and it doesn’t disappoint. The movie structures itself in defined acts, with regular cuts to black at revelatory moments. At the center is the relationship between Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) as they visit Josh’s friends at a lake house off the beaten track. Despite a fairly small cast,Companionintroduces minor characters that have a large impact on the story and despite the first line of the movieindicating Josh’s death is imminent,there is still a tense unpredictability to the characters’ fate. However, as Iris learns of her robotic origins and Josh’s true intentions, she does all she can to gain autonomy and escape his control. It might be a lot to process, butIris is determined to find a way to change her purpose and be more than the companion she was designed to be.
What is ‘Companion’ About?
Tonally, the opening ofCompanionfeels akin to a romantic comedy in its bouncing dialogue and intense focus on the relationship between Iris and Josh, including a charming meet-cute. However,something feels slightly off-pisteand the movie truly kicks off when Josh tells Iris to go to sleep, revealing she is in fact an android. Moments before, Iris had wandered to the lake to enjoy the weather, before Sergey (Rupert Friend), the rich owner of the lake house, began to inappropriately make a pass at her. Iris’ self-defense led to her stabbing Sergey in the neck and coming back to the house drenched in blood. The truth is finally revealed to Iris,she is a robot and all her memories are artificial, and it is this realization that is the catalyst for her motivations throughout the rest of the movie.
This moment reveals that the androids are passive and set up to be devoted to their owner, and totally customizable from their vocal tone to their intelligence. However, in a bid to steal Sergey’s riches,Josh has modded Iris, removing the programming that stops her from committing harm to others. Josh, alongside his friend, Kat (Megan Suri), reveals to their other friend Eli (Harvey Guillén) that this was the plan all along and all they have to do is report Iris and take the money. This moment also reveals that Eli’s boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) is a companion robot as well. Stealing Josh’s phone, Iris attempts to escape, modifying herself to be more intelligent and not rely on Josh’s vocal commands. However, while being pursued by the others she ends up killing Eli.Eli’s death is the most important in the movie, as his relationship with Freddie hints towards ahealthy dynamic for the androidsbut also allows Josh to reprogram Freddie to be in love with him instead. It is the turning point where the movie’s tone becomes much more vicious as Josh is hell-bent on capturing Iris.
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This isn’t your typical romance flick.
Iris’s attempt to escape shows several abilities of the robots; she is able to pitch her voice to match Josh’s to drive his car, and she also manages to change her language setting when encountering a police officer so he doesn’t find out the truth.The crux of the companion robots is that they cannot lie, so while speaking German, she is telling the police officer about the men she has killed, but luckily, he doesn’t understand. It shows that Iris is extremely analytical and rational, meaning she can decipher how to overcome her programming flaws. However, there is a helplessness that comes with her lack of knowledge of reality.The newly skilled Freddie, whose aggression is now set to max, attacks and kills the police officer and brings Iris back to the house.
How Does ‘Companion’ End?
The end ofCompanionfocuses on the relationship between Josh and Iris, withJosh manipulating her artificiality and making Iris shoot herself in the head. However, after calling empathics, the team responsible for dealing with faulty robots, it is revealed that the companion robots record everything for safety purposes and all their core information is actually in their stomach area. This forces Josh to use Freddie to kill the two workers and destroy Iris, but before he can, Iris reboots and manages to save one of the engineers. She stops Freddie by reminding him of his relationship with Eli and how he felt, showingthe murky ethics of companion robots.Supposedly, their memories are wiped with a factory reset, but the conclusion ofCompanionshows that there is a real humanity to them and the wayJosh has manipulated Freddiepartnered with the image of Eli’s death, causes him to end his life.
With full control, Iris reprogrammes herself to have full autonomy and finally confronts Josh. The pair fight and Iris manages to stab Josh in the head with a mechanical corkscrew. Sherepeats the opening line,expressing that she felt the true feeling of love twice in her life — when she first met Josh, which we now know was all artificially created, and when she killed him. Now Josh is dead and Iris has total self-control, she is free to do whatever she pleases. The final moments see her peel off her skin to reveal her mechanical arm and drive off.She waves to another companion robot showing her exposed metal and presents the potential for freedom.The ending represents Iris’ reclamation of her robotic composition;she doesn’t need anyone else to live a full life.
