Pitched between Demon Seed and The Servant, this chilly British sci-fi concerns a humanoid robot designed to perform household duties, schedule business meetings and confirm viewers’ worst fears about artificial intelligence.
Prosthetics engineer Abi (Black Mirror alumnus Georgina Campbell) is offered a job at the cutting-edge tech firm Integrate Robotics. It’s a chance to start over in a rural idyll with her formerly philandering husband, Paul (Mark Rowley).
It looks like a sweet deal. Their futuristic new home comes with floor-to-ceiling glass panels, a self-driving car and a prototype model of Tim – the acronym stands for a “technologically integrated manservant”, who is played to discombobulating effect by Eamon Farren. Paul is immediately creeped out by the overly attentive help, but Abi is reluctant to offend her tech-bro boss (Nathaniel Parker) by returning the company’s fanciest toy.
So Tim gains access to the couple’s mobile phones and takes over every aspect of home life. Internet searches allow him to predict precisely what Italian dish Abi wants for dinner. The blond Tim even ventures to the hairdresser’s when his mistress’s elevated heart rate suggests a preference for dark-haired men.
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Paul, meanwhile, becomes increasingly resentful of the interfering android. Add an attractive neighbour, paranoia and technological advances that prioritise “beating the Chinese” over safety protocols and we’re quickly hurtling towards Hal-level threat.
Working from a script co-written by the novelist Sarah Govett, the comedian turned film-maker Spencer Brown is a little more judicious in his use of the robot-amok terror than Blumhouse’s M3gan, preferring Luddite-themed jolts. This is a canny film about the uncanny valley, punctuated by fears that don’t yet have specific names and phobias, including deep-fake horror scenarios and “that feeling when one’s phone shills for something you just thought about”.
We’re unsure what malfunction causes the tin man to fall in love and turn Single White Female. The narrative shape will feel familiar to anyone who has watched Yul Brynner overtake his programming in Westworld or Farrah Fawcett fend off a rapey robot in Saturn 3. Against the familiar pattern, Tim is a well-crafted, entertaining and cautionary tale.
Tim is on limited cinema release and on Netflix
