The Trouble with Being Born

Directed by Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner, The Trouble with Being Born is an abstract and uncomfortable exploration of memory, identity, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to satiate human desire. Its intended mid-2020 release caused discord and debate within the film industry, and though not for the faint of heart, it’s undoubtedly a subversive and compelling progression in science fiction filmmaking.

The film begins in a serenely familiar setting, establishing itself to be typecast as a well-treaded sci-fi narrative drama in which human and AI must navigate their co-existence. Papa (Dominik Warta) and ten-year-old android Elli (stage name Lena Watson) live in a modern yet secluded house, and their quiet intimacies, rituals and curiosities seem innocuous. However, Papa’s obsessive fascination with Elli soon reveals itself to be more than paternal as the dark underbelly of their seemingly innocent relationship skirts on the periphery – a look here, a touch there – never explicitly revealing itself. Beautiful and careful cinematography gives these interactions potency, as does the use of steady diegetic sound. Moments are left to unfold slowly, allowing the viewer to feel the weight of each unsavoury interaction and fill in the gaps, making it all the more unnerving.

The second half of the film finds Elli separated from her father and in the hands of an elderly woman (Ingrid Burkhard) who has her reprogrammed into a replica of a ten-year-old boy. The switch, like anything resembling a plot point in the film, is dreamily understated, allowing the android’s lack of autonomy to be that much more apparent. As they move from one replication to the next they become disoriented, not able to give context to their past experiences. The structure of the film becomes increasingly nonlinear as the line between memory and reality blurs and each interaction leaves the viewer wondering whether the events taking place are flashbacks or AI replications.

Back in July, The Trouble with Being Born was pulled from its virtual MIFF screening due to the nature of the implicitly sexualised relationship depicted between Elli and Papa, deemed by two forensic psychologists (who hadn’t even viewed the whole film) to “normalise sexual interest in children”. This sparked a controversial discussion on censorship within the film industry, prompting Wollner to not only discuss her reason and intent behind her choices, but to explain the measures taken to protect the child actor both physically and emotionally. After watching the film, the preteen age of the child, though a risky choice, proves far from a mere act of gratuitous provocation. After the sexual aspect of Elli and Papa’s relationship reveals itself, this sexualisation is not further explored as a theme, but rather used as a trope to comment on the exploitation of the innocent and the lengths at which the human psyche will go to satisfy it’s deepest needs. For its human masters, the android is nothing more than a vessel, and this film raises the question: how deep would we sink into technology to hide from our moralistic reality?

The Trouble with Being Born has been re-released in Australia and is showing at Cinema Nova now.

The Trouble with Being Born 
In cinemas now
cinemanova.com.au/films/trouble-with-being-born-the