Ich bin dein Mensch [I’m Your Man] (2021)

(On Cable TV, May 2022) As technology advances, some science fictional concepts are fast becoming more realistic, and so is fiction’s treatment of them. Androids as custom-made romantic partners have a long history in genre fiction, but one of the most noteworthy elements of I’m Your Man is how it takes that idea and treats it in a very down-to-earth way, almost as a mainstream drama. The plot gets going as our protagonist, a German anthropology researcher (played by Maren Eggert), is selected to act as a juror for a most unusual study: Should androids be given human rights? In order for her to judge, she is assigned her own robotic partner for a few weeks. At first, her interest is strictly hands-off, appreciating the efforts made to custom-tailor a partner for her own preferences (he’s played by British actor Dan Stevens, speaking what sounds like good German– and even that is a plot point) but not getting involved with him. This changes, of course, leading to a complex conclusion in which what she says is not what she wants – or vice-versa.  I wasn’t bowled over by I’m Your Man: in seeking mundanity, it certainly finds it. But, as much as it’s about an android possibly being a romantic partner, it also has a lot to say about the non-spectacular parts of romantic relationships – beyond the grand gestures and love scenes, the in-between moments of domesticity and moment-to-moment minutiae of living with someone else. And that’s part of the process in moving something from genre fiction to mainstream drama.