We have all failed those obnoxious Captcha tests, and it always seems to aggravate us when we are in a hurry or we are behind in our work. “Prove that you are human” feels like a strange command, but we have all gotten used to it. Click the right boxes over and over again until your program or your computer accepts that you are not, in fact, an android. Victoria Warmerdam’s film, I’m Not a Robot, rides a treacherous line between comedy and terror as it confronts us with one question: what if you don’t know know who you are?
Warmerdam’s film carries a simple concept. On a typical day, Lara (played by Ellen Parren) is prompted to take a Captcha test in the middle of her work day. She is calmly listening to music (an angelic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”), but the failure to pass the test stops her day cold. What goes from casual annoyance quickly descends into personal chaos when a customer service employee suggests, “Have you ever considered that you might be a robot?”
**We have linked I’m Not a Robot below. Please consider watching Warmerdam’s film before scrolling back up to read out interview.**
Warmerdam drew on her own personal experience with one of those pesky tests, but she wanted to turn it onto its head by injecting it with dark humor. I’ve seen this film several times with different audiences and there are varying reactions to the same parts of the film. While some might be amused and laughing at Lara’s frustrations, another viewer will be immediately weirded out. Warmerdam was interested in exploring a universal, seemingly mundane experience.
“What sparked this was me trying to get through those Captcha tests and how frustrated I kept getting,” Warmerdam admits. “You think you know what you’re doing, and, sometimes, it’s so complicated. My imagination took a darker turn when I started wondering how this could be made into a film and one would discover that they might be a robot purchased by your partner. It reminded me of The Truman Show a bit, because there is this fear that’s sort of lingering in how the world might not be what we thought it was after all. I thought I could make something a bit darker and more absurd. I’m drawn to films like Being John Malkovich in how the power of film can shift your perspective. Finding a Captcha will never be the same again.”
As we ponder the robot-of-it-all, we think of metal or machinery. The large windows in Lara’s office, however, showcase the bright sky and the refreshing greens of the trees outside of the building. It indicates a stark contrast between humanity and life versus robotics and a man-made robot.
“That was something that I really wanted when I was writing the script,” she says. “I was hoping that we could find an art deco nouveau kind of building because the shapes are based on nature, and I wanted to have the round windows to counter that artificial feeling of technology. That building was perfect–it looked like a 60s starship. It was designed by a concrete company. It was a prefab concrete building and robots are prefab so that was perfect. I wanted nature integrated in that world, so seeing the green of the trees and the sky was very intentional.”
“There’s also a moment where you see a bird flying outside,” Trent, producer of I’m Not a Robot, says. “When we were working on [the] sound, we thought about giving it some as it flew by. Maybe it would be nice to hear nature, but when we did it, it was too much. It was accidental, but we wanted to convey it in a sound to make it extra, but we decided against it.”
As Lara’s world begins to suddenly unravel, I wondered if every robot had this conscious realization. Is it inevitable? Are those who purchase their ideal mate prepared to deal with this sudden realization or fallout? It led to even more serious, pragmatic questions.
“I was really drawn to the idea that after you watch this film that you could question if you are a robot as well,” Warmerdam says. “A huge part of the process with the actors was creating this office environment in which you could think that a colleague is also a robot. You don’t know who is human, and once that door of questioning is opened, you can’t really close it. It touches on a very existential question about what makes us human. As Lara, Ellen [Parren] is the character with the most humanity since we are witnessing her going through a personal crisis. This is such a personal film to me, because how she reacts is how I would react. I know that Trent, my partner, would be the first person that I would call as Lara does in our film. I also think that we, as humans, long for the past. We are drawn to that, and that’s one of the reasons why we shot on film. I spoke with our DP, Martijn van Broekhuizen, and we concluded that shooting it this way would also go back to that human craftsmanship that ties into a really human approach.”
“Shooting on film isn’t as common anymore,” Trent says. “Since a lot of short films have a smaller budget, I discovered that cameras are much cheaper for hire because not a lot of people use them anymore. We had a wonderful lab in Belgium that developed it.”
In the final moments between Lara and Daan, we realize that he brought his partner into his life out of painful loneliness. At first, we might think that Daan is just a creep or a loser who couldn’t connect with anyone, but he, too, is coming to terms with severe pain and trauma. When you are in relationship with one of these robots, the deaths of both parts of the couple are tethered together. We have all heard about those couples who die quickly after their partner’s passing…was that because they had a deal made at the time of purchase? We all share fears of death and loneliness.
“I’m so moved by stories like that, because that’s the most romantic thing, in a way,” Warmerdam says. “Then, with this twist, it makes it so dark, so it’s almost the opposite. During the writing, I was looking for a reason as to why he would buy someone like Lara–it needed to be believable and understandable for the audience. One of my biggest fears is that my partner would die–everyone will die, of course. I’m just really scared of that someday, and it made me wonder if I would do the same thing that Daan does. I think a lot of us feel that way when it comes to thinking of being alone. I wanted to make a film that sparks a conversation in an intimate way even if you are frightened of it.”
I’m Not a Robot is available to stream via The New Yorker’s YouTube.
