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Marjorie Prime Movie Review

Marjorie Prime is a 2017 science fiction drama film directed by Michael Almereyda and starring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis and Lois Smith. It’s an authentic, but flawed movie.

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“How nice that we could love somebody“

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A service that provides holographic recreations of deceased loved ones allows a woman to come face-to-face with the younger version of her late husband. Watching this movie, it was obvious from the very beginning that it was based on a stage play as it shows through extensive dialogue and a very confined setting. I love this type of film, but here even the ambitious scope in terms of timelines could not save the film from being overly static in feel.

It is a story that was ripe for the stage, but on the screen it left a lot to be desired. When it comes to its themes, it’s a rich experience as it tackles the concepts of humanity, memory, aging and in particular how human memory works and how it changes with time. Some of its statements I did not agree with, in particular the idea that you would merge two persons into one after numerous decades, but still this was a thought-provoking story that is fascinating to think about.

Marjorie Prime is visually interesting only in the production design as the house looks very modern and suitably futuristic for a science fiction story, but otherwise it is far from cinematic and the imagery of the ocean waves was repetitious throughout. It was meant to evoke a meditative feeling, but it was more tedious than truly atmospheric.

It was wonderful seeing Tim Robbins and Geena Davis, both 90s stars in a recent film. Both were expectedly strong. Jon Hamm was suitably robotic and very well cast while Lois Smith delivered the most heartfelt performance of the bunch. These characters and their relationships are very moving, but the approach to edit out deaths and to change time periods constantly felt to me more disorienting and confining than admirably unique. It made the movie feel colder than it should have felt and more depressing than emotionally rewarding. It also negatively affected the characterization, though the actors elevated their roles effortlessly.

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