Proxy

A single man desperately wants to upgrade his AI girlfriend experience, and hires a body proxy for her to inhabit so that they can both get down to some real-world jiggy-jiggy, without either of them realising the real-world consequences of their actions.

Somewhere in the near/alternative future, AI girlfriends are all the rage and can be materialised in real-time, as a sort of hologram, through a cerebral implant. This function still has its limitations though, with touch and sensation still beyond the ken of the programming, leaving only the emotional and communicative aspects of relationships still open to the user, even though they can see their chosen partner right in front of them. Despite the obvious frustration of this set-up, business seems to be booming, however, Clyde (Souza) is still not satisfied.

With a little bit of technical wizardry and know-how, Clyde has already upgraded his AI girlfriend, Alora (Neave), in his spare time, giving her extra, illegal code, that makes her more personal, individually tailored, and loving towards him. Together they have concocted a plan to transfer Alora’s memory into a Proxy, a living host who will take on all of the implanted memories and personality that Clyde has built up in Alora, but who will be someone flesh and blood that he can touch and make love to. The fact that the Proxy looks completely different to the girlfriend he has created and loves, somehow doesn’t seem to faze Clyde at all, and so when Renata (Lockhart) is delivered to his door, all steely-eyed, distant, and submissive, there’s only really one thing on his mind.

Looking for all intents and purposes like an episode of Black Mirror (2011-2025), Proxy takes the idea of the uses of modern technology and extrapolates a little into the future to present us with a cracked version of what might be. At only fifteen minutes long, it doesn’t have the luxury of explaining everything in detail, or settling us into the scenario completely, before getting on with things, but as a proof of concept for what is intended to be a full feature film, it gets enough of what is needed into the narrative to let us understand the themes and drive of the movie.

With that, the techno-babble at the beginning is a little light on specifics, and the double talk of AI girlfriends, holograms, cerebral implants, proxies, and so on, can get a little confusing to the uninitiated. Once our Proxy has been delivered, however, most things slot into place and the themes become the driving factor of the story and character play. These themes, unfortunately, seem to be very one-dimensional, poorly thought out, surface level, and even a little crass, as they set about painting men as sick abusers and heartless animals who only think about their sexual appetite. The entire dynamic of the threesome is one set upon male dominance and exploitation of women, with male users shown to be only too happy to be complicit in institutional rape and control, even when they have no knowledge of the deception behind the scenes of international, global conglomeration.

There is never any hint that AI boyfriends might exist in this world, or that proxies might indeed be male instead of female, and that the issues which complicate the matter of proxies would transfer across sexual and gender lines, which is a real blind-spot in terms of the writing. While borrowing a lot of themes from stories such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Ex Machina (2014), Her (2013) and A.I.(2001), as well as many episodes of Black Mirror, Proxy doesn’t dig down into them to try to understand the relationship between human and machine, but instead tacks on a forced narrative of male sexual abuse as the inevitable outcome.

While sci-fi has long been used as a medium for exploring modern day real-world themes, offering windows into dystopian futures and catastrophic misuses of technology, in Proxy it misses its mark. The theme completely overtakes and drowns out the narrative, forgetting to allow actual characterisation and deeper thought behind their actions, instead focusing on shock value and unfiltered ire to deliver its message. While the threats of AI and especially AI companionship are definitely something to be considered and explored, Proxy, with its singular vision of a wildly specific scenario, and introduction of a problematic concept, struggles to bring anything pertinent to the conversation.