I will explain to you a thriller sci-fi film from 2014 titled ex machine
spoilers ahead
a programmer at an internet company Caleb smith wins a contest this allows him the chance to spend a week at the luxurious and private estate of nathan bateman his company’s ceo the estate is extremely isolated in the mountains where caleb is airlifted and
then left to travel the rest of the way by foot through the woods when caleb arrives to the house he is given a personal key card at the security gate caleb makes his way through the first floor of the house until he finally finds nathan outside exercising nathan is a charismatic individual who tries to make small talk with caleb as they meet for the first time as nathan shows caleb the estate he learns it is not a house but a research facility nathan is eager to share what he is researching at his estate however caleb first must sign the blue book non-disclosure agreement at first caleb is reluctant to sign because of the outlandish requests he is expected to follow with a bit of persuading nathan successfully gets caleb to sign the agreement after caleb signs the agreement nathan asks caleb if he knows what the turing test is caleb’s understanding is that when if a human doesn’t know they are interacting with a computer the computer has passed the test and has artificial intelligence ai nathan then informs caleb that he will be the human component in a touring test to determine if the ai ava nathan created can pass the test or not caleb is captivated by this project and states that if it passes it will be the history of gods before the first session begins caleb examines the area outside of the room that ava is kept he notices a crack in the reinforced glass wall barrier that separates him from ava it seemed that ava was trying to escape from her room caleb looks up and sees ava walk into his line of vision she has the face and hands designed as a woman’s but has the body of a machine ava greets caleb and tells him she has never met anyone before only nathan she asks him if he’s met lots of new people and he replies none like you he diverts the conversation and lets her know that they must break the ice he asks her if she knows this meaning and she acknowledges that she understands it is meant to overcome any social awkwardness ava informs him of her age and that she is one however she does not specify in years or months just one caleb
then asks her when she learned how to speak and she states that she always knew how to speak they discuss why this is unusual or not since ava believes language is something that people acquire caleb counters that it may be that language exists from birth and what is learned is how to form language into conversations with that their first session is complete caleb is fascinated by his encounter and is talking to nathan about the session while drinking a beer together he tells nathan that talking to ava was like through the looking glass instead of conversing more about what caleb meant nathan only compliments caleb by saying that he is quotable and good with words caleb tries to refute this saying it was a quote by someone else but nathan interrupts him to change the topic about himself nathan reflects back to when caleb said nathan wasn’t a man but god if he invented a machine with consciousness once again caleb tries to interject with frustration that he didn’t say that exactly but nathan talks over him nathan continues to talk about how if the test passes caleb had acknowledged that he is a god caleb once again tries to interject but nathan completely ignores him caleb then voices his concern about the way the test is set up from his understanding humans are not supposed to see the robot nathan says they are past that point since if caleb didn’t see ava he would believe she was a human the real test is to show that ava is a robot but to see if caleb believes she is consciousness caleb agrees with his point of view later that night caleb is unable to fall asleep so he decides to watch what ava is doing through the monitoring system in his room as he watches her the power is cut and caleb can’t get out of his room until the main generator is restored the power is returned almost instantly and caleb leaves his room while walking down the hall he notices a wall aligned with face replicas he enters a room with a painting by jackson pollock known as felt caleb finds a phone and attempts to use it when he is startled by nathan who was laying on a couch drinking a beer nathan says he can’t use the phone because of the protocols with ava caleb says there was a power cut in his room and he couldn’t get out nathan does not take in caleb’s concern and only says they’ve been getting those recently but that he’s working on the issue uneasy about this short conversation caleb goes back to his room the next morning a woman walks in caleb’s room unannounced she leaves him a plate of coffee without saying anything to him attempting not to make eye contact with him caleb makes his way outside where nathan is lifting weights he apologizes for sending the woman hyoko in his room but he didn’t want caleb to oversleep they discuss the next session caleb starts the next session with ava where she shows him pictures she’s drawn she’s frustrated since she draws every day but she doesn’t know what the drawings are she then changes the conversation and
asks caleb if he wants to be her friend however she tells him how she notices that their conversations are one-sided since he wants to know everything about her yet she doesn’t know anything about him he goes on to talk about himself such as his personal life while she walks around looking at him and furthering the conversation she only stops walking and looks him in the eye when he accounts how his family had died in a car crash he goes into detail that he was in the car when it happened and was kept in a hospital for a long time ava has a look of sorrow and there is remorse in her voice when she tells him she’s sorry that happened to him he says it’s fine and that soon after he got into coding and became advanced in that field ava’s face changes from sorry to neutral and compares him to nathan caleb agrees then instantly exclaims that he’s different from nathan since nathan has accomplished so much more in the coding field ava asks if caleb likes nathan which he says he does ava also wants to know if he is friends with caleb which caleb replies that he believes so she goes further into the question as to whether nathan is a good friend to caleb caleb is unsure how to answer this and stammers as he tries to find the right answer all of a sudden the power cuts out ava takes advantage of nathan not being able to hear or see the conversation and whispers to caleb that he shouldn’t trust nathan before caleb can ask ava what she meant the power is turned back on ava immediately starts to talk about books so that nathan is not suspicious about what may have been spoken about when the power was out it takes a moment for caleb to snap out of what happened but he goes on ahead and agrees to what ava was saying about books at dinner caleb learns that kyoko doesn’t know any english nathan says it’s another security measure since she won’t understand the projects he works on nathan turns to the subject of the power cuts he’s been facing caleb asks why nathan doesn’t have the technicians come back to fix the generator nathan says it’s too difficult to get people to come fix it because of all the security measures and that after the last job he had all those men killed caleb looks up at nathan with a look of concern waiting for the punchline nathan only weakly smiles nathan then
asks how the session when and caleb gives his account nathan wants to know what was said during the power outage caleb nervously continues to eat his dinner and tells him that ava didn’t say anything nathan is surprised but doesn’t push forward in the next session ava talks to caleb about never being outside the room she’s kept in he asks her where she would want to go and she explained she would like to go to a traffic intersection so she can view many humans caleb tells her this is called people watching and she likes this idea saying that they could go together caleb smiles and tells her it will be date she is happy with this answer and tells caleb to close his eyes she walks to her closet and puts on a dress sweater and wig when she is dressed she walks back to caleb to show him her new look he says she looks nice ava is pleased with this answer and says that is what she would wear on their date caleb is confused to what ava had said and done the previous session he asked nathan why he would give an ai a sexuality and that they don’t need a gender nathan explains that it is only nature for gender and sexuality to exist caleb still does not understand nathan’s reasoning continues to argue with nathan about the subject caleb accuses nathan of programming ava to be attracted to him irritated nathan tells caleb to follow him to another room when they enter the room nathan walks up to a large abstract painting displayed on the wall nathan describes the methods of the famous painter jackson pollock at the end of his rant he asks caleb what would have happened if he didn’t stick to his methods caleb replies that pollock would have never had a painting nathan excitedly agrees with him and compares the painters methods to the test that if the painter thought of every step and process he would not have been successful nathan calms down and tells kayla that he didn’t program ava to be attracted to him and that she is not pretending to like him in the fourth session caleb recalls an experiment he had to take in his ai course at college called mary in the black and white room he describes a scientist who specialized in colors but had never seen color because she lived in a black and white room she was born there and was always alone when the scientists stepped outside for the first time she had finally learned what colors felt like as caleb tells the story ava connects with a scientist and imagines herself alone in a black and white world after finishing the story caleb tells eva that mary in the black and white room is a machine the human is when she walks out avo only stares at caleb unmoved and serious caleb then tells ava that he was brought there to test her he asks her if she knew which she replies that she didn’t but that she is sad about that information the power is cut and caleb takes advantage of the situation asking ava why she told him not to trust nathan she answers that nathan lies about everything caleb is still confused as to why there are so many power cuts and believes that nathan is orchestrating it however ava tells him that she is the one causing the power cuts since she can reverse the power flow when charging herself caleb starts to understand that he didn’t win the lottery to go to the estate by chance but was instead chosen caleb confronts nathan about this on a hike near a waterfall nathan says he chose caleb because he knew he would ask all the right questions kyoku is standing in the room with the jackson pollock painting staring at it caleb walks in and tries to get her attention he walks up to her and puts his hands on her shoulders and faces her asking where nathan is she doesn’t seem to understand and stares at caleb he continues to ask for nathan when kyoko starts to unbutton her blouse continuously staring at caleb bewildered caleb tells her to stop yet kyoko does not listen nathan walks in casually and reminds caleb is wasting his time talking to her but he wouldn’t waste his time dancing with her the room is lit red music starts to play and kyoko starts to dance nathan joins her in a choreographed dance as caleb looks at them like they’re crazy during the next session ava asks caleb a series of questions at first everything seems fine until she asks caleb what will happen to her if she fails the test he does not have a direct answer in the power cuts out as the power is out ava asks caleb if he wants to be with her she doesn’t give him a chance to answer and says that she wants to be with him outside caleb and nathan are having a few drinks and discussing ava when caleb learns that nathan is going to create another model after ava nathan describes the process where he will download her mind and unpack the data he will also wipe out her memories and keep the same body caleb realizes this process will essentially destroy ava they return inside the facility where nathan lies on the couch and continues to drink caleb watches him from across the room when nathan passes out from his drunkenness caleb takes nathan’s key card and goes to nathan’s computer he pulls up the old video footage from when nathan had created the other ai models before ava the footage shows nathan with various female robots the last robot is shown yelling at nathan asking him why she’s in there she pounds on the door with her hands continuously until her arms have completely fallen off caleb is appalled by what he sees kyoko is lying down on a bed undressed when caleb walks into the room he goes to the closets and opens each one revealing the other ai models nathan wakes up and realizes caleb left the room kyoko understands that caleb knows the truth and peels back layers of her artificial skin revealing that she’s also a robot nathan stumbles through the house attempting to make his way to his bedroom when trying to open a door he can’t find his key card and thinks he lost it as he drops to the floor the electrical door opens and caleb steps out nathan tells him he lost his key caleb kneels next to nathan with the key card in hand and tells him he dropped the key since nathan is extremely drunk he is fooled by this trick caleb cannot sleep that night after he recounts the previous events the image of kyoko plays over in his mind he goes into the bathroom and walks to the mirror he feels his skin and looks over his face he grabs his shave razor and pulls one of the blades out he turns the blade to his wrist and cuts himself leaving a deep gash he then examines the inside of the gash making sure he is indeed a human and not an ai caleb is completely unmoved by the situation and goes on to smear his blood all over the mirror and stares at the mirror the truth of the ai has left him confused as to what was real and what was machine as he stares at the mirror rage fills him until he punches the mirror the mirror was another camera kyoko was on the other side of the screen watching what caleb had done to himself as caleb learns the dark truth about nathan’s use of ais at the next session he hints at ava to turn off the power ava turns off the power and listens to caleb about nathan’s plans to practically kill ava when he reprograms her ava is scared and wants his help to get her out he tells her that they’ll wait until the nathan is drunk and blacks out
then caleb will take nathan’s key card and reprogram the security protocols he will change it so the doors will not remain locked during the power cut but will open ava needs to trigger a power failure at 10 pm and she agrees to do this the next morning nathan walks into the kitchen and greets caleb he reminds caleb that it’s his last day and the helicopter is scheduled to pick him the next morning nathan says he enjoyed having caleb at his estate caleb cheerfully thanks him for his hospitality he walks to the fridge and pulls out a bottle to pour nathan a drink he tries to hand the drink to nathan to celebrate his stay but nathan refuses the drink confused that nathan doesn’t want the drink he tries to offer him a beer but nathan still refuses nathan has been drinking too much and wants to go on a detox caleb is defeated and drinks by himself nathan switches the conversation about ava wondering if she passed the test caleb quietly agrees that ava had passed nathan is pleased about this answer then goes back to an older conversation they had as to whether ava was pretending to like kayla nathan points out that ava probably pretended to like caleb because she saw him as a means of escape he tells caleb to follow him out of the kitchen to show him something kyoko walks up to ava’s room ava asks who she is kyoko says nothing they stand in silence nathan is showing caleb footage on his personal computer he reveals that he had a battery powered camera in ava’s room nathan has been able to see and hear everything that has been said between ava and caleb during the power outages nathan does not seem angry he explains that caleb was the real test not ava he gave her caleb as her hope of escaping she was expected to use her charm and emotions to manipulate caleb into helping her caleb is angry and avoids eye contact with nathan he understands that nathan didn’t choose him because he’s good at coding he was chosen based off his search engine that showed his interests that he had no girlfriend and that he was a morally good nathan sits next to caleb and says that the test did indeed pass at that moment the power cuts out and nathan asks caleb exactly how he thought the escape plan was going to work he laughs at the plan believing he caught caleb however caleb uncovers to nathan that he figured he had been watching them caleb got him drunk the day before and reprogrammed everything the power turns back on and nathan is anxious he stands up and walks back to his monitor to check on ava ava has left her room as ava walks out of her room she walks past the same wall of face replicas caleb had passed she examines one of the faces comparing it to her own kyoku steps out into the hall and ava faces her nathan is watching as all of this happens from his monitor angered nathan turns and punches caleb knocking him out he grabs a dumbbell weight staring at the monitor taken over by fury ava and kyoko are standing face to face ava leans over and whispers something to her but it is inaudible ava holds kyoko’s hand while kyoko holds a knife in her other hand the women look at each other with understanding at that moment nathan steps into the hallway both women look at him but say nothing he orders ava back to her room she asks if he’ll ever let her out of the room nathan lies saying that he will ava knows that he is lying and starts to walk towards him he orders her to stop she ignores him and starts to run towards nathan he’s scared as he continues to yell at her to stop she charges straight towards him she knocks him down to the ground and attempts to choke him nathan overpowers her standing over her ava hatefully looks at him nathan brings the weight down to hit ava she uses her arm to block the hit breaking her arm off nathan starts to drag ava back to her room but kyoko stabs him in the back he turns around and strikes kyoko in her face kyoko’s jaw breaks revealing her robotic face as kyoko falls to the ground ava pulls the knife from nathan’s back and proceeds to stab nathan in the stomach nathan turns away from ava wide-eyed and walks away he doesn’t walk far when he falls to the ground and lies against the wall ava walks and sits down next to him she reaches over and takes his key card away from him as he whispers her name ava with his last breath ava goes back to caleb and asks him to stay in nathan’s room while she wanders off she finds the same closets that caleb had found filled with the other robot bodies ava takes the arm from the robot to repair herself she starts to remove the synthetic skin from the robot to put on her body once she’s finished she has the body of a female human just as kyoko had she dresses herself and walks out of the room caleb is still locked in the room he calls for her but she does not look his way she looks down the hallway where kyoko and nathan’s bodies lie ava turns to the door leading out of the hallway and uses the key card to get out she leaves the estate and walks outside for the first time as she is taking everything in caleb is frantically trying to get out of the room but with no luck ava finds her way to the helicopter and leaves behind the world she once knew in the end caleb is left behind in the room and ava finds her way to the city make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you can watch more videos like this thanks for watching
