More Human than Human

S1m0ne (2002)

The idea of machines replacing humans has been explored in many films over the years. Some of these films are thematically complex, delving into moral philosophy, decaying societies, human commodification and alienation. Others, like S1m0ne (2002), present us with Al Pacino, wearing a woman’s wig, carrying out an elaborate shadow puppet display in a hotel room.

In S1m0ne, Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a down-on-his-luck director with a languishing career. He feels misunderstood and abused by actors who, he believes, are unable to put the genius of his work ahead of their own petty egos. The movie opens with Taransky trying to appease the star of his latest work, Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder), who has just walked out mid-shoot.

With Nicola gone, Viktor is in deep trouble, having already sunk all his money into a ridiculous project that he now won’t be able to finish.

Just as he’s about to give up, Hank Aleno (Elias Koteas), an eccentric software developer from Viktor’s past, shows up with a hard drive containing a program called Simulation One, or S1m0ne, a synthetic AI generated “actress”, aka the solution to all of Viktor’s problems.

It turns out S1m0ne is perfect - she works tirelessly for free, praises Viktor constantly, enables all his “genius” ideas, and has no thoughts or needs of her own. Naturally, she is also a thin, ethereally beautiful, blonde, white woman.

Taransky uses S1m0ne to finish his movie and forgets to tell anyone that she’s not real. Oopsies.

Everyone falls in love with S1m0ne, they’re dying for a piece of her, which of course creates a big problem for Viktor. Let’s just say he has to go to great lengths to ensure no one finds out that S1m0ne is a computer program. The shenanigans he gets into are very ridiculous. I’m not even going to try to explain them but I will say this: Al Pacino is very underrated as a comedic performer.

This movie was panned by critics, and rumor has it that none of the actors involved ever bring it up or acknowledge its existence. Also, it may have ruined Andrew Niccol’s career. I think all of this is a bit unfair. Is S1m0ne more than a little absurd? Yes. But you know what, it works for me as a shallow, funny satire of Hollywood and the cult of celebrity. Not to mention that it foresaw the use of AI by film studios to replace the need for pesky humans, which became a very real fear for actors in 2023 when studios proposed that background performer images should be scanned and re-used at will with no consent and no compensation.

All that to say, while the execution is a bit fumbled, I still think S1m0ne is worth a watch. It has all the elements of a cult classic (except for the fanbase). You can stream it on Kanopy or rent it from your local physical media shop if you’re lucky enough to live near one. Enjoy!