EX MACHINA

A side player to this trio is Kyoko, a mute Asian robot played by Sonoya Mizuno, a Garland project regular. In contrast to Ava, she serves at Nathan clad in risqué clothing and is constantly subject to his (nonconsensual and violent) desires. Sentient enough to understand everything around her yet devoid of the ability to add her voice to the world around her, she's programmed by Nathan to be mute and unable to understand English. The picture of techno-Orientalism, Kyoko-robot is blank, simple and submissive; a contrast with Ava's sophisticated emotional range.

The female robot is not a trope foreign to the science fiction genre, or our reality. 'Westworld' is a series centred around an amusement park populated by androids where guests are allowed to indulge in their fantasies. In the 'Blade Runner' world, female robots are used for the pleasure of men.

And so the film's third act is equally triumphant and thought-provoking. An extremely sentient Ava whispers something in Kyoko's ear that motivates her to attack Nathan. As Kyoko is smashed to death by Nathan in response, Ava is eventually able to escape and leave the house. Although Caleb plays a crucial role in Ava's escape, she also leaves him behind. True liberation means shedding both Nathan and Caleb, men whose only relations to her were selfish and born out of their own desires. I think 'Ex Machina' approaches the conversation of existentialism, creation, and what makes us human with an interesting take – much of which has been praised by watchers and critics alike over the past decade.

However, as I enjoy the film's classic science fiction status, my huge gripe when revisiting 'Ex Machina' 10 years on is the film's portrayal of women of colour.

Nathan's suite of prior experimental robots leading up to Ava (who presents as a white woman) are women of colour. In the film's timeline, these preceding robots are dealt the same fate as "death", being violently dismembered and shut down by Nathan. The only black robot, Jasmine (Symara A. Templeman), is not even granted the metallic skull the others have – presented headless and dragged across the floor by Nathan. In the film's finale, Ava takes the spare parts of the women of colour to make up her new body before leaving the house. Earlier in the film, Asian robot Jade (Gana Bayarsaikhan) vocally retaliates against Nathan, even smashing her own arm during her pleas for freedom. This time, she's subservient in letting Ava literally skin her – removing her skin to form Ava's new body.

Likewise, while Caleb is hell-bent on assisting Ava in escaping and gaining agency, his escape plan never includes Kyoko – although he comes to realise that she, too, is a robot under Nathan's control. Her language barrier and inability to emotionally (or romantically) "connect" with Caleb compared to Ava brings up the question – does this make her any less deserving of empathy?

This is the point where 'Ex Machina' falls short for me. The bodies of women of colour are time and time again subjugated to abuse both metaphorically and physically in order to please the men and, ultimately, make way for the white woman's freedom. Kyoko's death, for example, is an unnecessary key factor that grants Ava her liberation. When Ava leaves the other robots behind to venture to her newfound freedom alone, she moves towards being more human than machine, while her peers are downgraded to being more machine than human.

With the complexities of 'Ex Machina's' narrative, what Garland has built as his first directorial feature is nothing short of impressive. However, a clever script can't distract me from an ending where only one type of woman gets her triumphant feminist sci-fi liberation.