Playing in competition in Annecy after premiering in Cannes, Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi thriller “Mars Express” offers an uncommon spin on modern anxieties — particularly when it comes to AI.. “Or we see many sci-fi films where robots want tohuman. In short, humans are always the point of reference – so mysterious and strange and interesting, such an amazing species. We’re a bit pretentious, and I didn’t want to play on that.
“The film says robots and human are different, so we have to accept those differences. There’s no need for fear, no need for opposition. I feel like I’m singing ‘We Are The World,’” the director laughs. “This is a world where the robots look ever-more human, and the human characters can access computer interfaces with their eyes,” the director continues. “So I wanted to embed this confrontation between ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ within the very mise-en-scene, to blur those codes by mixing in the rules and conventions of live action.”
When thinking about this sci-fi landscape, Périn drew as much inspiration from Brian De Palma’s work as from the touchstone adult-skewing films from Mamoru Oshii, Satoshi Kon, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Rintaro. If anything, Périn saw clear continuity between both forms.