Marjorie Prime
Sloan Foundation Film
Release Date
2017
Film Synopsis
In the near future, in a time of artificial intelligence, 86-year-old Marjorie has a handsome new companion who looks like her deceased husband and is programmed to feed the story of her life back to her.
Marjorie (Lois Smith) is an elderly woman who lives with her daughter (Geena Davis) and son-in-law (Tim Robbins). Marjorie’s mind has started to drift as she’s gotten older, so to help, she’s begun talking to a holographic reproduction of her husband, Walter (Jon Hamm). The creation — referred to as a “Prime” — is a software-driven blank slate that can take on the characteristics and nuances Marjorie remembers about her husband, even if some of them aren’t exactly true. As other family members talk to Walter Prime, it becomes clear that the family has been haunted by unspoken secrets and tragedies they’ve never really dealt with.
Possible Topics
- The evolving relationship between humans and technology
- How intelligent machines can challenge our notions of identity, memory, and mortality
Past Programs
2017
Bozeman Film Society, Bozeman, MT
2018
The Gem, Bethel, ME
Film Streams, Omaha, NE
The Tull Family Theater, Sewickley, PA
The Tull Family Theater, Sewickley, PA
Salina Art Center, Salina, KS
Austin Film Society, Austin, TX
The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, Minneapolis, MN