FILM · 2014 · UK
Ex Machina
117 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
117 Interesting Facts About Ex Machina
Interesting Facts (40)
- #001
The house in the film is the Juvet Landscape Hotel in Norway.
- #002
Director Alex Garland described the future presented in the film as "ten minutes from now," meaning: "If someone like Google or Apple announced tomorrow that they had made Ava, we would all be surprised, but not that surprised."
- #003
Oscar Isaac said he based the character of Nathan on Bobby Fischer and Stanley Kubrick, whom he saw as mysterious, hard-to-understand geniuses. The latter's now-iconic look also inspired his beard.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the end, even though Caleb does not carry out the Turing test and Nathan is already dead, Ava appears on screen in Session 7. This may suggest that Ava was always testing both of them.
- #005
The title is derived from the Latin phrase "Deus Ex-Machina," meaning "a God from the Machine," an expression that comes from Greek comedies. An actor playing a God is lowered by means of a platform (the machine) and resolves the characters' problems, bringing about a happy ending.
- #006
When Caleb sits down at Nathan's computer and starts coding, the code he writes is for an algorithm called the "Sieve of Eratosthenes," used to find prime numbers. However, he also selects the prime numbers that form ISBN = 9780199226559. This ISBN belongs to a book about the history of Artificial Intelligence, "Embodiment and the Inner Life: Cognition and Consciousness in the Space of Possible Minds."
- #007
Some of the house's interior shots (the living room, the kitchen) were filmed at the Summer House in Storfjord in western Norway.
- #008
Contains a major spoiler — show
For most of the film Ava is the "prisoner," while Caleb is the "free" one who comes and goes. During the interview sessions, however, this situation is visually reversed: Caleb sits in a small entrance room within Ava's much larger space. Because Caleb is relatively comfortable in his own space, the actors reverse this again, but Ava frequently paces around (in the words of director/screenwriter Alex Garland, "like a tiger in a cage").
- #009
Contains a major spoiler — show
Caleb discovers that Nathan made an earlier version of Ava named Lily, similar to the legend of Lilith, the first woman God created before Eve. In Jewish folklore, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife. After Lilith refused to obey Adam, she left him. After Lilith was forced to return to the earth, God began to create a second Eve for Adam.
- #010
In a 2016 interview, Alicia Vikander named this film her favorite of all the films she has appeared in to date.
- #011
In an earlier draft of the screenplay, Nathan explains to Caleb that he has no idea whether the Jackson Pollock painting is real. Nathan states that he bought the original painting and used it to make a perfect copy, then randomly selected one of the paintings and burned it.
- #012
It is the lowest-grossing Oscar winner in the Best Visual Effects category since What Dreams May Come (1998).
- #013
All three main characters have fitting Biblical names. Ava is a form of Eve, the first woman; Nathan was a prophet in David's court; and Caleb was a spy sent by Moses to assess the Promised Land.
- #014
Early in the film, Caleb listens to the Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark song "Enola Gay" (1980). Enola Gay was the aircraft used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Later, while discussing with Nathan how AI will transform the world, Caleb shares J. Robert Oppenheimer's quotation from the Bhagavad Gita about the making of the atomic bomb ("I am become death, the destroyer of worlds").
- #015
In Nathan's room hangs a portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The subject of the portrait is the sister of Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose notes and lectures eventually became the Blue Book.
- #016
Its win of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects was widely regarded as an upset, since most predictors saw it as an outlier and heavily favored Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) to win. Many trade publications theorized in their post-ceremony coverage that, given the performance-driven nature of the visual effects, the unexpected victory stemmed from strong support from the Academy's acting branch.
- #017
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Nathan first shows Caleb around the house, he tells him that he is authorized to enter some rooms but not all of them. Every room Caleb's key card will not let him enter is forbidden to him. This recalls the "Bluebeard" fairy tale, in which a wealthy aristocratic man of the same name warns his new bride not to enter a certain room of his castle. When he leaves the castle, she gives in to temptation and enters the room, and in horror discovers the murdered corpses of his previous wives, who had mysteriously disappeared. The allusion to "Bluebeard" continues when Caleb later discovers what is in the cabinets in Nathan's room.
- #018
Contains a major spoiler — show
Most of the actresses playing Nathan's androids were real-life models.
- #019
It is Alex Garland's directorial debut.
- #020
The sound made when the key card activates to open a door is the "Tejat" sound from the Android operating system.
- #021
Contains a major spoiler — show
By way of analogy, Nathan says Caleb should behave like Captain Kirk from Star Trek (1966). This is interesting because the film's plot is remarkably similar to the episode Requiem for Methuselah (1969), in which a genius inventor creates a female android and, just as Nathan uses Caleb, wants her to discover feelings such as love by using Captain Kirk as a target for her emotions. Both Requiem and Ex Machina feature a scene in a laboratory filled with inactive partial robots.
- #022
Although the famous Swedish actress Alicia Vikander appears in the film, it was never shown in regular Swedish cinemas. The reason given was said to be a lack of quality and insufficient exhibition potential.
- #023
It is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," and each of the film's three main characters roughly corresponds to a character in the play. Nathan, a powerful, manipulative inventor living in a remote resort, corresponds to Prospero, a powerful magician living on a remote island who directs the events and characters of the story to his own liking. Although Nathan is not a magician but a computer programmer and AI pioneer, the parallels with Prospero nod to Arthur C. Clarke's famous observation that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Ava is commonly seen as resembling Prospero's daughter Miranda; Miranda and Ava were created by Prospero/Nathan, and neither has been exposed to experiences or people beyond her own confines. Caleb is the equivalent of Ferdinand. The Prospero character finds a way to bring Ferdinand to his isolated and remote home, and Ferdinand falls in love with the Prospero character's daughter.
- #024
Domhnall Gleeson plays a synthetic human named Ash in the Black Mirror (2011) episode Be Right Back (2013).
- #025
The film's title comes from the phrase "Deus Ex Machina." On Nathan's computer, there is a folder named Deus Ex Machina on the desktop screen. This is the only instance of the film's title being used within the film itself.
- #026
Contains a major spoiler — show
The first spoken dialogue in the film, "When do we get to his estate? / We've been over his estate for the last two hours," is an almost verbatim quote from Quigley Down Under (1990), in which Tom Selleck's character asks, "How long until we get to Marston's property?" / "We've been on his property for the last two days." Although it is a western, that film also deals with a stranger being brought to a remote place under false pretenses.
- #027
Throughout the film, red, blue and green are prominently shown in every scene (the green forest, the red-brick corridor, the red and blue functions of the keypad, and so on). This is a reference to the RGB color model used to display images in electronic systems such as computers. Ava is, of course, the film's main computer.
- #028
The song Nathan and Kyoko dance to is Oliver Cheatham's "Get Down Saturday Night."
- #029
While Caleb and Nathan are drinking beer, the label on Nathan's beer reads "KEIKAKU." Keikaku means "plan" in Japanese.
- #030
This film has many similarities to The Machine (2013), including its title ("The Machine" vs. "Ex Machina"), its plot and its female robot named "Ava."
- #031
Contains a major spoiler — show
Look carefully at Ava's final appearance. Through a directorial sleight of hand, she not only disappears into the crowd, but her image also vanishes *literally* from the last frame in the blink of an eye. This nihilistic ending may suggest that Ava will either die or assimilate seamlessly, and thus become insignificant.
- #032
Caleb tells Ava he is from Brookhaven, Long Island NY, and that he has an apartment. Brookhaven consists mostly of farmhouses and country estates. Caleb also recommends a five-minute walk to work, since there is no business district in Brookhaven, so we can assume Nathan built a Silicon Valley-type data center on some of the abundant vacant land in the area.
- #033
Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander appeared together in Anna Karenina (2012).
- #034
Alicia Vikander's real-life partner, Michael Fassbender, also played a synthetic human in Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017).
- #035
The helicopter used in this production is the Eurocopter EC120 Colibri (Hummingbird). These are now known as Airbus Helicopters H120.
- #036
This was Sonoya Mizuno's first nude scene in her career.
- #037
It is one of two films in which Alicia Vikander plays a half-human counterpart. In addition to playing a half-human robot in this film, she also portrayed a half-human witch in Seventh Son (2014).
- #038
It was Elina Alminas's first film.
- #039
Contains a major spoiler — show
As Nathan bleeds from the wound on his chest, you can briefly see the profile of a man's head in the blood, his face turned to the right.
- #040
Although it is not actually a copy, the film takes notes from many films and literary works, including Frankenstein, Pygmalion, The Man in the Iron Mask, Heart of Darkness-Apocalypse Now, The Stepford Wives, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Cuckoo's Nest and even Pinocchio.
Production Story (50)
- #041
This film, which won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, was made on a budget of only 15 million dollars and won the award against many big-budget films such as The Revenant (2015) (135 million dollars), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) (150 million dollars) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) (200 million dollars).
- #042
In the end, even if Caleb does not carry out the Turing test and Nathan is already dead, Ava appears on the Session 7 screen. This may suggest that Ava was always testing both of them.
- #043
The title is derived from the Latin phrase "Deus Ex-Machina," meaning "a God from the Machine," an expression that comes from Greek comedies. An actor playing a God is lowered down by means of a platform (a machine) and resolves the characters' problems, resulting in a happy ending.
- #044
During her interviews with Caleb, whenever Ava's reflection is seen in the glass wall (when he asks her questions about her personal life, when she dresses like a real woman, or when he shows her his drawings…), she is always behaving deceptively and manipulatively — a symbolic harbinger that she is "double-faced" and is trying to win Caleb's trust in order to gain her freedom. In the rare moments when she seems to give a sincere response (for example, when she wins him back by mentioning her parents' death, or when she talks about her real dreams and desires), the frame never shows her reflection.
- #045
When Nathan is about to pass out from drink, he recites a verse from the Hindu Gita: "… In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, the good deeds a man has done before defend him." According to J. Robert Oppenheimer's book "American Prometheus," Oppenheimer translated and read this poem a few days before a failed explosives test.
- #046
Some interior shots of the house (the living room, the kitchen) were filmed at the Summer House in Storfjord in western Norway.
- #047
For most of the film Ava is the "prisoner," while Caleb is the "free" one who comes and goes. During the interview sessions, however, this situation is visually reversed: Caleb sits in a small entrance room within Ava's much larger space. Because Caleb is relatively comfortable in his own space, this situation is even reversed again by the actors, but Ava frequently paces around (in the words of director/screenwriter Alex Garland, "like a tiger in a cage").
- #048
Caleb discovers that Nathan made an earlier version of Ava named Lily, similar to the legend of Lilith, the first woman God created before Eve. In Jewish folklore, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife. Lilith left Adam after refusing to obey him. After Lilith was forced to return to the earth, God began to create a second Eve for Adam.
- #049
After the power outage, Caleb leaves his room. Along the walls are Ava's face and versions of the Greek masks used in classical Greek theater; a reference to "Deus ex Machina," used in classical Greek theater.
- #050
In an interview, director Alex Garland stated that the recurring musical theme for Ava is not intentionally a play on the tones used to communicate with the visitors in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), as many have claimed; however, even the producer noticed the incredible similarity upon hearing the theme.
- #051
One of the closing scenes is the transition Ava imagined during one of the sessions. The first shot of this scene is a sidewalk on which, shortly afterward, there are shadows of people whose physical forms are within the frame. This transition resembles Plato's allegory of the cave and also references Mary's Room, the thought experiment Caleb tells Ava about.
- #052
Nathan's surveillance of Caleb is especially prominent in the film's first scene: when Caleb learns he has won the contest, there is a camera angle from the POV of the camera on his phone, and this camera shows patterns coming from a facial recognition algorithm applied to him and those around him. Later, at Nathan's house/research facility, when Caleb cuts his arm in the bathroom, there is a point of view from the camera inside his mirror showing the same model.
- #053
The Jackson Pollock painting owned by Nathan is identified by Caleb as Number 5, 1948. After its original creation, the painting was severely damaged and underwent a major reworking by Pollock. This is a subtle foreshadowing of Nathan's constant reworking of different, improved versions of Ava (and the fate of previous AIs) in the film.
- #054
Early in the film, Caleb listens to the Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark song "Enola Gay" (1980). Enola Gay was the aircraft used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Later, when talking with Nathan about how AI (Artificial Intelligence) will transform the world, Caleb shares J. Robert Oppenheimer's quote from the Bhagavad Gita about the making of the atomic bomb ("I am become death, the destroyer of worlds").
- #055
At one point, Nathan tells Caleb "It's Promethean." Prometheus was the Greek Titan who stole fire from the Gods and delivered it to humanity. For this, he incurred the wrath of the Gods; he was chained to a rock and every morning an eagle pecked out his liver. Nathan also metaphorically 'stole' something from God (the gift of creation) and routinely punishes his own liver by drinking excessively most evenings. Kyoko and Ava later finish the job. Also, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein had the alternative title Modern Prometheus.
- #056
In Nathan's room, a portrait of Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is visible. The subject of the portrait is the sister of Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose notes and lectures eventually appeared in the Blue Book.
- #057
Its win of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects was widely regarded as upsetting, as most predictors saw it as an outlier and heavily favored Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) to win. Many trade publications theorized in their post-ceremony coverage that the unexpected victory stemmed from strong support from the Academy's acting branch, given the performance-driven nature of the visual effects.
- #058
When Nathan first gives Caleb a tour of the house, he tells Caleb that he is authorized to enter some rooms of the house but not all of them. Every room that Caleb's key card does not allow him to enter is forbidden to him. This recalls the "Bluebeard" fairy tale, in which a wealthy aristocratic man of the same name warns his new bride not to enter a certain room of his castle. When he leaves the castle, she succumbs to temptation and enters the room and, in horror, discovers the murdered corpses of his previous wives, who had mysteriously disappeared. The allusion to "Bluebeard" continues when Caleb later discovers what is in the cabinets in Nathan's room.
- #059
The name of Nathan's search engine company, Blue Book, is a reference to "The Blue Book," the lecture notes given by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein between 1933 and 1934.
- #060
Alex Garland's directorial debut.
- #061
The sound made when the key card activates to open a door is the "Tejat" sound from Android OS.
- #062
In the Special Features of the Blu-ray and DVD, there is an easter egg showing an extended version of the dance scene with Nathan and Kyoko.
- #063
By way of analogy, Nathan says that Caleb should act like Captain Kirk from Star Trek (1966). This is interesting because the film's plot is incredibly similar to the episode Requiem for Methuselah (1969), in which a genius inventor creates a female android and wants her to discover feelings like love, using Captain Kirk as a target for her emotions, just as Nathan uses Caleb. Both Requiem and Ex Machina feature a scene in a laboratory filled with inactive partial robots.
- #064
Although the famous Swedish actress Alicia Vikander appears in the film, the film was never shown in regular Swedish cinemas. The reason for this was said to be a lack of quality and insufficient exhibition potential.
- #065
It is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," and each of the film's three main characters roughly corresponds to characters in the play. Nathan, a powerful, manipulative inventor living in a remote resort, corresponds to Prospero, a powerful sorcerer living on a remote island who directs the events and characters of the story to his own liking. Although Nathan is not a sorcerer but a computer programmer and artificial intelligence pioneer, his parallels with Prospero are a nod to Arthur C. Clarke's famous view that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Ava is similar to Prospero's daughter Miranda; Miranda and Ava were created by Prospero/Nathan, and neither has been exposed to experiences or people outside their own confines. Caleb is the equivalent of Ferdinand. The character Prospero finds a way to bring Ferdinand to his desolate and remote home, and Ferdinand falls in love with the character Prospero's daughter.
- #066
A large part of the plot can be interpreted as a homage to "Frankenstein." This becomes clear early on when Nathan refers to the story of Prometheus, who gave Mary Shelley's novel the title "The Modern Prometheus." The film's outcome reinforces this concept further, as the creator is defeated by his own creation and Ava ultimately assembles herself from the parts of other synthetics. Nathan's company Blue Book refers to Ludwig Wittgenstein's Blue Book of 1933/4, in which Wittgenstein developed theories about thinking and consciousness as a symbol-based language game.
- #067
The billionaire's first choice was Jake Gyllenhaal, but an agreement could not be reached on many points, and Oscar Isaac joined the cast with great success.
- #068
As Nathan sits in front of three monitors, to the left of the Post-it covered wall hangs Titian's famous triple painting "The Allegory of Prudence," featuring three heads and three animals. Titian painted the work in 1576, shortly before his death from the plague. The three heads in the painting refer to the three ages of man. On the left, Titian's self-portrait represents the past and old age. In the center is his son Orazio, representing the present and maturity. On the right is his cousin Marco, representing the future or youth. Beneath the portraits, the three-headed figure depicting a wolf, a lion and a dog symbolizes prudence, and can also symbolize memory, intelligence and foresight.
- #069
Sonoya Mizuno is a successful dancer, and since the film includes a rhythmic dance scene between Kyoko and Oscar Isaac's character, this probably won her the role of Kyoko. Her dance talent is clearly visible in this scene, because her movements are far more flamboyant and professional next to him. Two years later, Sonoya appeared in The Chemical Brothers Feat. Beck: Wide Open (2016), once again displaying her dance talent. The themes of this music video compare artificial hollow existence with human artistic expression.
- #070
The film's name comes from the phrase "Deus Ex Machina." On Nathan's computer, there is a folder named Deus Ex Machina on the desktop screen. This is the only reason the film's title is used within the film itself.
- #071
The first spoken dialogue in the film, "When do we get to his estate? / We've been over his estate for the last two hours," is an almost verbatim quote from Quigley Down Under (1990), in which Tom Selleck's character asks: "How long until we get to Marston's property?" / "We've been on his property for the last two days." Despite being a western, this film also dealt with a stranger being brought to a remote place under false pretenses.
- #072
When Caleb first meets Nathan, green wheat was growing in a pot. This is the pagan Slavic symbol of new life.
- #073
Throughout the film, the colors red, blue and green are prominently shown in every scene (the green forest, the red brick corridor, the red and blue functions of the keypad, etc.). This is a reference to the RGB color model used to display images in electronic systems such as computers. Ava is, of course, the main computer in the film.
- #074
In the end, Ava is shown wearing only white, symbolizing purity and innocence. This is a clear use of irony, since Ava manipulates her way out of isolation and into the world.
- #075
While Caleb and Nathan drink beer, the label on Nathan's beer reads "KEIKAKU." Keikaku means "plan" in Japanese.
- #076
Although this is certainly significant, the etymology of the names may be more informative for the characters. Ava, or Eve, comes from the root word kháy, meaning "alive," or khavá, meaning "to experience"; living and experiencing is Ava's main goal. Nathan comes from the Hebrew word natán, because he gives life to artificial intelligence and to Ava; it means "gave." And even if you prescribe Caleb from the root kleb, meaning "whole-hearted" or "dog," this clearly expresses Caleb's loyalty throughout the film. Also, Kyoko means "strength" or "security" in Japanese, and can carry various meanings throughout the film.
- #077
The name "Ava" is a reference to Ada, the daughter of the Romantic poet Lord Byron, who in the 1840s, through her work with Charles Babbage and his Analytical Engine, came to be recognized by many as the first computer programmer.
- #078
In this film, Domhnall Gleeson plays the protagonist and Oscar Isaac plays his enemy. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the two actors' roles were reversed.
- #079
Look carefully at Ava's final appearance. Through a directorial sleight of hand, she not only disappears into the crowd, but her image also vanishes from the final frame *literally* in the blink of an eye. This nihilistic ending can suggest that Ava will either die or assimilate seamlessly and therefore become insignificant.
- #080
Caleb tells Ava that he is from Brookhaven, Long Island NY, and that he has an apartment. Brookhaven consists mostly of farmhouses and rural estates. Caleb also suggests that the commute to work is a 5-minute walk, since there is no business district in Brookhaven, so we can assume that Nathan built a Silicon Valley-type data center on some of the abundant vacant land in the area.
- #081
Alicia Vikander's real-life partner Michael Fassbender also played a synthetic human in Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017).
- #082
The hidden reference in the code Caleb writes to break into BlueBook security is actually an elaborate procedure used to extract the text "ISBN = 9780199226559" (see other trivia), which arises from a coincidence involving the ISBN. When the number is divided into groups of four with one left over, each of the resulting numbers is either one or two away from a prime number. To get the correct output, the program Caleb writes generates a list of prime numbers and then retrieves the 1206th, 301st, 384th and 5th primes from the list, then subtracts 1, 1, 2 and 2 from each respectively. This gives the book's correct ISBN. It would have been possible to do this using three numbers instead of four. The 2915th prime is 26561, which is two more than 26559, the required last five digits.
- #083
The music that plays when Ava and Kyoko kill Nathan ("Bunsen Burner" by The Cuts) is the same as the music in the pinball machine 'The Machine: Bride of Pinbot'. The Machine's main theme revolves around the titular, highly sexualized female robot (also known as The Machine), who makes up the majority of the playfield. In the 3rd and final stage, the Machine achieves "metamorphosis", becomes a woman, and cries out "I'm Alive" (a nod to Dr. Frankenstein's "It's Alive").
- #084
After his first session with Ava, Caleb is seen shaving using a can of 'Barbasol' shaving cream. This may be a reference to the parallels between Caleb's story and Dennis Nedry's story in Jurassic Park (1993); both are tech experts hired to work at a remote facility for a wealthy industrialist they do not trust, in which the industrialist (Nathan/John Hammond) uses technology to create a new form of life. Both conspire to free this life form from its creator. Both suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of said life form.
- #085
This is the second A24 film starring Oscar Isaac to be released. The first was A Most Violent Year (2014).
- #086
This is Sonoya Mizuno's first nude scene in her career.
- #087
This is one of two films in which Alicia Vikander plays a half-human counterpart. In addition to playing a half-human robot in this film, she also played a half-human witch in Seventh Son (2014).
- #088
In both Frank (2014) and this film, Domhnall Gleeson's character cuts himself with a razor blade. The films star his real-life partners Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, respectively.
- #089
Elina Alminas's first film.
- #090
Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac also appeared in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). In both films they appeared alongside Adam Driver, who had appeared with Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Isaac also appeared alongside Natalie Portman, who played Lena in Annihilation (2018), director Alex Garland's second collaboration. Gleeson appeared alongside Alicia Vikander in Anna Karenina (2012). The role of Anna Karenina was played by Keira Knightley, who played the double of Portman's Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Knightley also appeared in Never Let Me Go (2010), written by Garland. Vikander also appeared alongside her husband Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans (2016). Fassbender shared the screen with Gleeson in Frank (2014), with Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), with Portman in Song to Song (2017), and with Knightley in A Dangerous Method (2011).
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #091
Actress Alicia Vikander and cinematographer Rob Hardy worked together on the First World War drama Testament of Youth (2014).
Characters & Cast (3)
- #092
The billionaire's first choice was Jake Gyllenhaal, but an agreement could not be reached on several points, and Oscar Isaac joined the cast to great success.
- #093
Felicity Jones was considered for the role of Ava.
- #094
Contains a major spoiler — show
In both Frank (2014) and this film, Domhnall Gleeson's character cuts himself with a razor blade. The film stars Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, who were partners in real life at the time.
Easter Eggs & References (8)
- #095
Contains a major spoiler — show
After the power cut, Caleb leaves his room. Along the walls are Ava's face and versions of the Greek masks used in classical Greek theater; a reference to "Deus ex Machina," which was used in classical Greek theater.
- #096
Contains a major spoiler — show
One of the closing scenes is the transition Ava imagined during one of the sessions. The first shot of this scene is a sidewalk where, shortly afterward, the shadows of people whose physical forms are within the frame appear. This transition resembles Plato's allegory of the cave and also references Mary's Room, the thought experiment Caleb tells Ava about.
- #097
The name of Nathan's search engine company, Blue Book, is a reference to "The Blue Book," the notes from lectures given by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein between 1933 and 1934.
- #098
Among the Special Features on the Blu-ray and DVD is a hidden Easter egg showing an extended version of the dance scene with Nathan and Kyoko.
- #099
The name "Ava" is a reference to Ada, daughter of the Romantic poet Lord Byron, who through her work with Charles Babbage and his Analytical Engine in the 1840s is recognized by many as the first computer programmer.
- #100
Contains a major spoiler — show
The hidden reference in the code Caleb writes to break into BlueBook security is actually an elaborate procedure used to produce the text "ISBN = 9780199226559" (see Other Trivia), which arises from a coincidence involving the ISBN. When the number is divided into groups of four with one left over, each of the resulting numbers is one or two away from a prime number. To get the correct output, the program Caleb writes generates a list of prime numbers and then retrieves the 1206th, 301st, 384th and 5th primes from the list, then subtracts 1, 1, 2 and 2 from each respectively. This gives the book's correct ISBN. It would have been possible to do this using three numbers instead of four. The 2915th prime is 26561, which is two more than 26559, the required final five digits.
- #101
Contains a major spoiler — show
The music that plays when Ava and Kyoko kill Nathan ("Bunsen Burner" by The Cuts) is the same as the music in the pinball game The Machine: Bride of Pinbot. The Machine's main theme revolves around its titular, highly sexualized female robot (also known as The Machine), who makes up the majority of the playfield. In the third and final stage, the Machine achieves "metamorphosis," becomes a woman and cries out "I'm Alive" (a nod to Dr. Frankenstein's "It's Alive").
- #102
Contains a major spoiler — show
After his first session with Ava, Caleb is seen shaving using a can of 'Barbasol' shaving cream. This may be a reference to the parallels between Caleb's story and Dennis Nedry's in Jurassic Park (1993); both are tech experts hired to work at a remote facility for a wealthy industrialist they do not trust, an industrialist (Nathan/John Hammond) who uses technology to create a new form of life. Both conspire to free this life form from its creator. Both meet a gruesome fate at the hands of that life form.
Deeper Meaning (10)
- #103
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Ava's reflection is seen in the glass wall during her interviews with Caleb (when he asks her questions about her personal life, when she dresses like a real woman, or when she shows him her drawings…), she is always being deceptive and manipulative — a symbolic sign that she is "double-faced" and is trying to win Caleb's trust in order to gain her freedom. In the rare moments when she seems to give a sincere response (for example, when she wins him back by talking about her parents' death, or when she talks about her real dreams and desires), the frame never shows her reflection.
- #104
In an interview, director Alex Garland stated that the recurring musical theme for Ava is not, as many have claimed, a deliberate play on the tones used to communicate with the visitors in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); even the producer, however, noticed the incredible similarity upon hearing the theme.
- #105
Contains a major spoiler — show
Nathan's surveillance of Caleb is particularly emphasized in the film's first scene: when Caleb learns he has won the competition, there is a camera angle from the POV of the camera on his phone, and this camera shows patterns from the face-detection algorithm of him and those around him. Later, at Nathan's house/research facility, when Caleb cuts his arm in the bathroom, there is a point of view from the camera inside his mirror showing the same pattern.
- #106
Contains a major spoiler — show
The Jackson Pollock painting owned by Nathan is identified by Caleb as Number 5, 1948. After its original creation the painting was severely damaged and underwent a major reworking by Pollock. This subtly foreshadows Nathan's constant reworking of different, improved versions of Ava (and of the fate of the earlier AIs) in the film.
- #107
Contains a major spoiler — show
At one point Nathan tells Caleb "It's Promethean." Prometheus was the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods and delivered it to humanity. For this he suffered the wrath of the gods: he was chained to a rock and every morning an eagle pecked out his liver. Nathan has likewise metaphorically 'stolen' something from God (the gift of creation), and on most evenings he routinely punishes his own liver by drinking heavily. Kyoko and Ava later finish the job. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was also alternatively titled Modern Prometheus.
- #108
Contains a major spoiler — show
Much of the plot can be interpreted as a homage to "Frankenstein." This is made explicit early on when Nathan refers to the story of Prometheus, who gave Mary Shelley's novel the title "The Modern Prometheus." The film's outcome reinforces this concept further, with the creator defeated by his own creation and Ava ultimately assembling herself from parts of the other synthetics. Nathan's company Blue Book refers to Wittgenstein's Blue Book of 1933/4, in which Ludwig Wittgenstein developed theories about thinking and consciousness as a symbol-based language game.
- #109
As Nathan sits in front of three monitors, to the left of the Post-it-covered wall hangs Titian's famous triple painting "The Allegory of Prudence," featuring three heads and three animals. Titian painted the work in 1576, shortly before his death from the plague. The three heads refer to the three ages of man. On the left is Titian's self-portrait, representing the past and old age. In the middle is his son Orazio, representing the present and maturity. On the right is his cousin Marco, representing the future or youth. Beneath the portraits, the three-headed figure depicting a wolf, a lion and a dog symbolizes prudence, and can also symbolize memory, intellect and foresight.
- #110
When Caleb first meets Nathan, green wheat is growing in a pot. This is the pagan Slavic symbol of new life.
- #111
Contains a major spoiler — show
At the end, Ava is shown wearing only white, symbolizing purity and innocence. This is a clear use of irony, since Ava manipulates her way out of isolation and into the world.
- #112
Though certainly significant, the etymology of the names may be more informative for the characters. Ava, or Eve, comes from the root word kháy, meaning "alive," or khavá, meaning "to experience"; living and experiencing is Ava's main goal. Nathan comes from the Hebrew word natán, meaning "gave," because he gives people artificial intelligence and gives Ava life. And while Caleb may be prescribed from the root kleb, meaning "whole-hearted" or "dog," this clearly expresses Caleb's loyalty throughout the film. Kyoko, meanwhile, means "strength" or "security" in Japanese and can carry various meanings throughout the film.
Career & Awards (5)
- #113
This film, which won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, was made for a budget of only 15 million dollars and took the award against many big-budget films such as The Revenant (2015) (135 million dollars), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) (150 million dollars) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) (200 million dollars).
- #114
Contains a major spoiler — show
Sonoya Mizuno is an accomplished dancer, and the rhythmic dance scene between Kyoko and Oscar Isaac's character in the film is probably what won her the role of Kyoko. Her dance ability is clearly visible in this scene, as her movements beside him are far more flamboyant and professional. Two years later Sonoya appeared in The Chemical Brothers Feat. Beck: Wide Open (2016), once again displaying her dance talent. The themes of this music video contrast artificial, hollow existence with human artistic expression.
- #115
Contains a major spoiler — show
In this film Domhnall Gleeson plays the protagonist and Oscar Isaac plays his adversary. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the two actors' roles were reversed.
- #116
This will be the second A24 film featuring Oscar Isaac to be released. The first was A Most Violent Year (2014).
- #117
Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac also appeared in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). In both films they appeared alongside Adam Driver, who had starred with Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Isaac also appeared alongside Natalie Portman, who played Lena in Annihilation (2018), director Alex Garland's second collaboration with her. Gleeson appeared with Alicia Vikander in Anna Karenina (2012). The role in Anna Karenina was played by Keira Knightley, who portrayed the double of Portman's Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Knightley also appeared in Never Let Me Go (2010), which Garland wrote. Vikander also appeared with her husband Michael Fassbender in The Light Between Oceans (2016). Fassbender shared the screen with Gleeson in Frank (2014), with Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), with Portman in Song to Song (2017) and with Knightley in A Dangerous Method (2011).
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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