Before making his Hollywood debut with ‘She Said’, with which he dares to explore the beginning of the Me Too movement, German director Maria Schrader made a stop at last year’s Berlinale, where she presented “The Perfect Man”for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her lead character, Maren Eggert, and in which she appears Dan Stevens in his first role in a German film. A proposal that looks like a light comedy that hides several layers that invite reflection on relationships in general.
Schrader throws himself into science fiction with this proposal, while avoiding any conventionality of the genre, framing the story in a real and everyday present, in which an element worthy of an episode of ‘Black Mirror’ is introduced: What if the perfect better half could be created? A premise that, in a sense, has already been covered in similar productions such as ‘Her’although this did not reveal an android made to satisfy all the sentimental desires of a human.
With this premise, the protagonist, a magnificent Maren Eggert, is Alma Felser, archaeologist and professor who works for the Pergamon Museum, who was chosen, together with nine other candidates, for a pilot experience in which he has to live for three weeks with a robot, which must be his ideal partner. The premise, as it guides her to romantic comedy, leaves behind a series of hilarious sequences in which Eggert stars in a stunning portrayal of an incredulous woman hiding an injured woman under a layer of disbelief.
Although Eggert offers a good performance, the one who surprises as the ideal heartthrob is Dan Stevens. The actor creates confusion by speaking perfect German (with a slight English accent, as the film itself points out). It is surprising to see Anglophone actors in roles in a language other than Shakespeare’s. The interpreter dazzles not only to speak German, but also because he manages to fascinate in very ambivalent ways. On the one hand, offers that ideal heartthrob aura, reminiscent of his roles in period productions like “Downton Abbey”, but, on the other hand, he has too upright posture and a tremendously deep look, which causes a certain eerie feeling, offering a somewhat unreal image, which implies that his character is not human. It’s those details that make Stevens defend a role that, finally, is turning out to be much deeper than what algorithms are looking for.
The dehumanization of feelings through the algorithm
And it is that, although as a romantic comedy it works, “The perfect man” is not without a deep thoughtful drama behind itin which Schrader, who wrote the screenplay together with Jan Schomburg, shows that trying to replace a real person, with his strengths and weaknesses, with something perfect is a demonstration that, more than love, speaks of a selfish and impersonal attitude towards othersso much so that it is impossible to want to get in touch with a real person due to the risk that this person shows that love is a bond that binds two people, in a bidirectional way.
Love must be imperfect Schrader shows that it is important to accept the other with his strengths and weaknesses and that this agreement must be mutual. It is something very logical, but it is worth remembering, given the continuing dehumanization that exists in increasingly self-centered societies in the technological world, which the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the table and which, indirectly, is also reflected in ” The perfect man”. Secondly, surprises humanity that ends up detaching the robot embodied by Stevens, worthy of the replicants of ‘Blade Runner’.
Accompanied by luxurious secondary characters, above all an irreverent Sandra Hüller stands out, who seems to have wanted to reproduce the absurd smoke of ‘Toni Erdmann’ in her role as assistant to the company that tries to create androids that are ideal partners, “The Perfect Man” is a refreshing science fiction proposition, which works as a romantic comedy, as a light wellness proposition and as a thoughtful drama., thanks to a balance in the script and, above all, to its main tandem. Of course, it is scary to think that Schrader’s proposal has something disturbing about it.
Note: 8
The best: The critical attitude of Egger’s character, Alma, helps the film’s core message materialize. She listens to Dan Stevens speaking German, to continue with other projects in this language.
Worse: Schrader doesn’t know how to solve the film with a logical and satisfying ending.
Source: E Cartelera
