I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch) operates from an almost irresistible premise. Archeologist Alma (Maren Eggert) and her team at a Berlin museum are involved in a complex research project involving Sumerian cuneiform. Her boss, Roger, makes it clear that if she wants continued funding, she must participate in an experiment being conducted by the Terrareca company, with which he is associated. Terrareca is trying to produce humanlike robots. They are programmed to act just like a typical person of the opposite sex would like and to adjust as soon as the proposed partner appears different from the norm. Roger has chosen Alma because she is the only person on his staff who is without a romantic partner.
Alma is appalled by the whole concept. However she has no choice but to agree to live with robot Tom for three weeks and submit a report about her experiences. She is introduced to Tom (Dan Stevens) at a ballroom where, it turns out, many of the people dancing and flirting are actually holograms. Tom immediately tells Alma, “Your eyes are like two mountain lakes I could sink into.” Sensitive to Alma’s every reaction, he quickly readjusts his algorithm to whatever appear to be her romantic preferences. Tom moves into Alma’s apartment, but she gives him a separate bedroom.
There is a certain innocence to Tom. He prepares for Alma a bubble bath with accompanying champagne and tells her, “93% of German women dream of this.” “Guess which group I belong to,” responds Alma. “The 7%?” Reprogram.
As Tom readjusts, Alma can’t help but enjoy being around him, even though she hates herself for doing so. He is even capable of a sense of humor and invents a plausible fake background to explain his presence to Alma’s family and colleagues.
In the final third of the film, director Maria Schrader and co-screenwriter Jan Schomburg explore the nature of love and happiness. It would be nice if they came up with some satisfying answers, but this is not to be. Still, the rest of I’m Your Man is so engaging and so entertaining, that its flaws are easily overlooked.
