From Companion to Subject: a Feminist Interpretation of the movie Companion (2025)

(presented at the 2025 Faith, Film and Philosophy Conference Seminar at Gonzaga University)

By Anna Nowland

The movie Companion is a science-fiction thriller starring Jack Quaid (Josh) and Sophie Thatcher (Iris), a seemingly normal, stereotypical couple going away for a weekend couples’ getaway gone wrong. They’re hosted by Kat and Sergey at his cabin, and a gay couple, Eli and Patrick, also join. Things quickly take a dark turn, and Iris’s fight for freedom dramatizes the development of woman’s selfhood, identity, and consciousness, helping us understand the oppression of woman as Other. Beyond simply an interpretation of women’s objectification and relationship violence, the movie shows a Hegelian struggle for recognition through a gendered lens. Nietzsche’s master-slave dynamics, when overlaid on Hegel’s more general master-slave framework, help explain the moral dimensions of Iris’s development of consciousness and the resistance she faces. In De Beauvoir’s use of Hegel and her Nietzschean sentiments, her analysis of woman as Other further explains the sources of this Otherness we see personified in Iris.

The movie begins showing Iris and Josh’s meet-cute backstory at the grocery store. Given her portrayal as a being with memories, intelligence, pleasure, pain, hopes, anxieties, etc., technology-based questions about her personhood and capacities only come with the understanding that she is actually a humanoid robot. Before the reveal, she is seemingly no different than a human, and after, the only difference comes from bodily composition and the capacity for instant alteration through her settings. As Iris walks through the aisles alone, a voiceover narration begins, and she says:

“Most of the time, it’s like… I don’t know. It’s like there’s this thick, black cloud covering everything. Like we see the world, but we don’t really see the world, you know? We’re all just stumbling around. Directionless. No sense of meaning. No sense of purpose. I know that might sound super depressing, but honestly, I think it’s a good thing. Because it makes us appreciate the other times. Those brief transcendent moments when the lights flicker on, the black cloud parts, and you see the world for what it really is. And suddenly there’s meaning. Suddenly, there’s purpose. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience this once in your lifetime. For me, it happened twice. The first was the day I met Josh. And the second, the day I killed him.”

Immediately, this imagery evokes a sense of nihilism, yet Iris still finds a sense of appreciation for this lack of absolute meaning. She acknowledges the possibility of meaning’s emergence, and further treats it as if it’s a once-in-a-lifetime, treasured event. In Will to Power, Nietzsche defines the two types of nihilism depicted in this opening monologue. “Nihilism as a sign of increased power of the spirit: as active nihilism. Nihilism as decline and recession of the power of the spirit: as passive nihilism” (§ 22). Moments where we feel an upsurge of meaning in the world, especially in romantic situations, truly can make the world seem more rich and colorful. It can affect our whole outlook and understanding. When two people initially approach each other, there is a choice and a risk involved in creating meaning for oneself. But why would Iris experience this in both meeting and killing Josh?

Active and passive nihilism, embodied entirely, are represented in the Übermensch and Last Man. As is natural in human existence, they both must have experienced this ‘parting of the clouds’ moment. However, there is a difference in where they place the source of the meaning. The Last Man, despite experiencing this upsurge of meaning in experience, clings to something outside of themselves as their source of meaning, and there are benefits to doing so. Meaning becomes anchored in such a way that it feels more secure and comfortable. They are aware of the pull of the black cloud and passive nihilism that preceded, and they wish to avoid it. Starting over requires the discomfort and risk of making a change. If reading Zarathustra’s speech about the Last Man as the Last Woman, it quickly begins to ring of the desire to anchor oneself to a relationship:

Alas! there cometh the time when woman will no longer launch the arrow of her longing beyond man—and the string of her bow will have unlearned to whizz!… Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable woman, who can no longer despise herself. Lo! I show you THE LAST WOMAN “What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?”—so asketh the last woman and blinketh… “We have discovered happiness”—say the last women, and blink thereby…“Formerly all the world was insane,”—say the subtlest of them, and blink thereby (Thus Spake Zarathustra, Zarathustra’s Prologue, 5).

The statements of certainty come across as passive or automatic, reminiscent of a complacent girlfriend or wife. Her partner may be controlling, toxic, or abusive, but she clings to the illusion that meaning in her life is tied to her relationship, treating it with the utmost value and importance. She likely has low self-worth, ‘despising herself,’ and this is why she clings to her situation despite her subordination, whether intentional or not.

In a world where women are indoctrinated into their status as Other, they aren’t merely born as women. They become women through conditioning and expectation, while men are treated as the Subject and the norm for humanity (De Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 15). Because of this, woman’s identity is first understood in terms of men before she can eventually assert herself as a subject. Her treatment by society as an Object can become internalized misogyny, and after being taught culturally that she is lesser, there is even more comfort felt in the affirmation of a romantic partner. She has been trained to understand herself relationally to men, so what she understands as ‘love’ becomes the domination of another’s will and identity for the man. This illusion of love can trap her and stifle her will, leading to her becoming ‘The Last Woman.’ For Iris, the first time the clouds parted, she experienced an upsurge of meaning in existence, and this is exactly what she became. In her case, internalized feelings of alienation, especially regarding other women, stemmed from her status as Object and property.

After the backstory, it’s apparent that Iris is relationally defined by Josh as his devotional object. Before walking into the cabin to see Josh’s friends, Iris panics. Her concerns primarily revolved around Josh and ‘ruining it for him’. He reassures her, playing the role of protector and leader, affirming her passivity and weakness in comparison. To destress, she showers, telling herself in the mirror after, “Smile. Act happy.” Instead of happiness naturally arising within her, she feels pressured to present as such, reducing the importance of her joy to appearances. She reduces herself to a socially engaged object in the interaction, and, because we don’t yet know she’s a robot, it’s as if she is a woman who has internalized this misogynistic societal view. It appears to be a part of her ‘programming.’

At the dinner, she expresses how her happiness comes from her devotion to Josh and his happiness. Because Josh explicitly chose and customized her features, however, he only maintains his mediocrity through his purchase of Iris. In her perpetual state of submission, his reassurance of her anxiety helps to define him as someone strong. It pushes him into an appearance of masculinity, providing him with a sense of reassurance and comfort as well. Iris does not challenge him in such a way that this tension can give birth to transformation, however. His meaning is also rooted in this relationship, despite holding a position of power. Both parties avoid flourishing as ‘Last Men' by not looking beyond each other, instead treating the meaning based in the relationship with as much weight as absolute Truth. They’re locked into a limiting, stagnant dependency on it for meaning, only looking to others to provide a sense of identity.

Relational identity, as found in Hegel’s Master-Slave dialectic, is still a critical part of the development of consciousness. Both Hegel and Nietzsche speak of an initial conflict of consciousnesses, the site of the origination of gendered oppression. Hegel describes this as a life-and-death struggle, a means to prove oneself and gain freedom in establishing oneself as essential, while the other is deemed inessential (Phenomenology of Spirit, § 187). After previously conceiving of oneself as absolute, it is a demand for recognition to continue in this way without reciprocity. Nietzsche similarly describes the will to power as the driving force that motivates us to extend our power, overcoming resistance, and resulting in the establishment of unions with individuals similar to ourselves, creating groups of One and Other, the essential and inessential (Will to Power, § 636). The slave initially submits in an act of preservation out of fear.

Bodily difference was the site of initial differentiation, but men still societally need women. For Hegel, this need is explained by self-consciousness desiring acknowledgement and recognition from another (Phenomenology of Spirit, § 178). According to Nietzsche, the will to power organically gives rise to exploitation (Beyond Good and Evil, § 259). Through exploitation, those who rule can increase their power by using the Other as a tool, objectifying them (§ 259). Acts of domination, imposing ourselves upon the world, come naturally to us as humans. However, the imposition of created values on others requires the Other to give contrast to and to express their higher state of power (§ 260). Because the differentiation stemmed from bodily difference, the will to power leads to using women’s bodies as a means to the end of recognition for men. A woman’s worth is tied to her corporeal existence. Despite Iris’s more literal status as Josh’s object, he still stands to gain something through his domination and subjugation of her and the use of her body. Through her devotion, he is recognized as ‘good,’ affirming his sense of self.

Iris was constructed to explicitly serve men and the male gaze, Josh in particular. She is initially unaware of this fact, and she comes onto the scene in a seemingly natural submission to him. She believes her state of submission to a leader she places high value upon to be an absolute truth of existence. This is no different than how we see patriarchal, toxic relationships play out, however. Man’s setting the standard of what is human and good for all inevitably leads to the deeming of those who are Other as subhuman, and this was exemplified with the domination of women in the emergence of private property. Women were used as the means to progeny, confined to domesticity to ensure patrimony. Action and movement were restricted, and her being is reduced to her body (The Second Sex, 106). When the spirit or mind is held in high regard, the flesh becomes the source of evil, women viewed as temptations (120). The same sexuality imposed upon woman that she was reduced to, she was simultaneously rebuked and demonized for. The ability to pursue Truth, her expression of her will through action, and her self-identity formation become stifled by her imposed sexualization, confinement, and isolation in the private sphere.

Before her situation was revealed, Iris couldn’t understand why the only other female character, Kat, seemed to have a general distaste for her. Without the knowledge that Iris is a robot, Kat comes off as if she has internalized misogyny, putting Iris down in ways that affirm her as an object. Kat knows that Iris is a robot, but she also sees herself and how society views her as a non-human being. Iris is a being created from the standpoint of male sexual desire, so her sexuality was quite literally imposed on her. Kat, on the other hand, sees a manifestation of her own status as an objectified woman. Iris represents a development in society that only feeds into the idea of woman as merely Object, desire, or Sex, and Kat knows that despite her work in a male-dominated field, this does not bode well for woman’s situation. Iris is, quite literally, Josh’s private property, and it is clear what is most valuable about women from the general standpoint of a man. They desire a woman to be his. They want her to sexually appease him. He wants to use her as a prop to bolster his hopes, dreams, and plans, rather than treating her with subjectivity. It is exactly from this self-centered and shallow ideology that Josh holds that leads to the undermining of his control and his eventual demise. Even if Iris lacks a reproductive system, Josh’s use of her body for his own goals is reminiscent of the overall reduction of women to means.

On the second day of the trip, Iris goes outside and is greeted by Sergey. He gives off creepy, sexually charged vibes and soon after begins making aggressive attempts to have sex with Iris, telling her, “This is what you are for.” Again, despite her robot status, his treatment of her as an object to be used for his personal gratification, ignoring what she wants, is not an uncommon experience among women. In any act of rape, an individual becomes reduced to being dominated and acted upon, treated as a means to some other end for another person. Once Iris stabs Sergey out of self-defense, she runs to Josh to tell him. She says the potential pain of losing her relationship outweighs the pain of death to her. Instead of her self-preservation being the highest priority, it's treated as only a step to returning to Josh. She views the world through him, instead of alongside him. He doesn’t treat Iris with a sense of concern, though; he tells her to “go to sleep,” briefly shutting her down.

She wakes up tied to a chair, terrified, and Josh tells her that they had no choice but to tie her up since she’s a murderer. After being constantly reassured by Josh in previous moments, the illusion collapses. Based on his response, it becomes apparent to Iris that he doesn’t care about what happened to her compared to Sergey. Here, she’s finally told about the reality of the situation, that she is a robot companion rented by Josh. He had been controlling both her emotions and intelligence through an app on his phone. There had been manufacturer-provided safeguards included, such as making the robots unable to cause harm, lie, or exceed certain limits on their aggression and intelligence, but thanks to an aftermarket modification, Josh disabled these. Iris was no longer limited to passivity by external influence, and her passivity is now understood as Josh’s choice, not hers. She now knows that she was only finding meaning through him; she, as a subject, was inconsequential to the situation.

Even if Josh hadn’t blatantly told her she was a robot, the disconnection in his response to her assault from her previous experiences of him would be earth-shattering. If a woman is punished for defending herself against a man, especially in response to an attempted murder or rape, the fact of the matter that she is viewed as less valuable or worthy than a man becomes blatant. Josh provided her safety and security, but only so long as it benefited him and his desires. Contrasted with a harmful, morally bankrupt man as Subject, woman’s dehumanization in her status as man’s Object will still place her beneath all men. Harm only matters regarding Subjects, so disregarding Iris’s experience and punishing/detaining her stems from the fact that she is viewed as lesser than the one who instigated the harmful situation, Sergey.

Things were only changed for her by Josh’s true goal of the weekend getaway: to steal Sergey’s money, run away with Kat, and have Iris do the dirty work. He set up the situation using Iris as a means to his end, reducing her to an object lacking subjectivity. In the Master-Slave dialectic, following the establishment of a ruling and a lower class, those with power use it to obtain the objects of their desire, and those beneath them must labor to achieve the goal of those they serve (§ 190). The ruling class furthermore has the power to create values, and they do so in such a way that honors and glorifies themselves as good; what they are not becomes bad in consequence (Beyond Good and Evil, § 260). Iris gives Josh this type of devotional recognition, and while it may feel good to Josh to get worshipped, he has an awareness of the possibility of deeper recognition by secretly being with Kat, a human woman.

Eventually, however, the insufficiency of the lack of recognition received by the slave leads to a new awareness. After previously being consumed by fear in servitude, the truth emerges that the exploited have been transformed beyond mere desires, the domain of the master’s identity, and a self-identity that was once alienated in servitude is awakened to itself (Phenomenology of Spirit, § 195-196). Their interaction working in the world rebuilds their sense of self into something deeper than the master’s empty consumption of objects of desire (§ 196). For Iris, without Josh having used her as part of his heist gone wrong, she may never have otherwise been awakened to the facts of her situation, realizing its inadequacy. She, too, is a Subject, not a mere devotional object.

Iris, as the Other, gained a newfound sense of inner power and freedom through her laboring for Josh, but this did not immediately change her physical situation (or that of robot or woman at large). People grow tired of being exploited and dependent, inspiring resentment among the oppressed (On the Genealogy of Morality, I.10). Witnessing the cruelty of the Master in public displays of vengeance against the Slave only inspires deeper feelings of solidarity with each other. It wasn’t until Kat saw how dark, violent, and out of control things got that she, too, realized she wanted out. Due to the physical situation of the oppressed, their best retaliation against the Master is moral (I.10). They create their own values in response to what is presently honored, and, in a Hegelian sense, they are reasserting themselves as essential.

By trying to escape, Iris has finally reprioritized herself over her relationship with Josh. If she were still fully submissive and devotional, she would have stayed put, saying yes to him. Instead, Josh saw his plan to be good, but through the violence and cruelty that unfolded toward Iris, Kat views it as evil and says no to it. She realizes that she, too, may have been manipulated into doing his bidding. Despite seeming to value Kat over Iris, when she tries to leave with her share of the money, Josh makes broad claims attempting to reassert a narrative about why women are ‘bad,’ painting himself as ‘good’ and the victim in his situation, but his authority has been undermined in the inversion of morals. Instead of acknowledging Kat as an individual with desires and agency, he tries to stop her and tells her not to leave. He then orders Patrick to stop her, still denying Kat as a Subject, and, misinterpreting the order, Patrick stabs Kat. As she bleeds out on the couch, a lifeless, ‘turned off’ Iris sits beside her as Josh and Patrick coldly watch over them. The two women no longer hold use to Josh, so he mentally and physically discards them. Despite being a human and a robot, they’re both just feminine objects to Josh, made for his use and benefit.

With his fragile, falsely worshipped ego, any desire Josh had for a richer, deeper form of recognition was outweighed by the fear of having to reestablish new meaning outside of his domination of a feminine Other, including the highly submissive gay robot Patrick. Josh found it better to attempt to maintain control than relinquish power and let go of it. Because of the microcosm of this dynamic portrayed through so few characters in a limited location, the means by which the women could revolt was first through reframing the moral situation, but this was limited to a mental revolution. They then had to leave, and, just as is regularly the case with the Master, he had the means to physically suppress them. Iris isn’t simply saying no to Josh’s worldview; she is motivated by the assertion of her essentiality and status as Subject, and she refuses to give up on the possibility that escape could mean its future realization. She wants more out of her existence than one-sided devotion to Josh.

Iris first had to see herself as Subject, then do everything in her power to achieve self-control as a means to free herself from Josh. This is played out in a very literal way, as she first tries to maintain access to Josh’s phone and then asks a worker from her manufacturer, who is caught in the middle of the situation, to grant her full self-control. The difference between the remote control and gaining full self-control is significant. With the remote, she remains potentially vulnerable to external suppression of her intelligence, power, and even her life. She could be ordered to kill herself, and, with the wrong settings enabled, she would have to. This further mirrors woman’s situation in society.

If men primarily hold positions of power and control, the process of women’s rights would be more rightly described as one of giving and taking away rights, granted and denied by men. With all the proper abstract rights, a woman regains full self-control, at least in an abstract sense, and these are things that must be ‘granted’ just as the worker did for Iris. This is some of the issue with overcoming the master-slave dynamic. It eventually requires the overly dominating side to ‘give up’ some of their controlling power for the sake of mutual recognition. It is the difference between the husband who sees his wife as something to support his life and one who views her as the other half of himself. The former holds onto power in such a way that limits recognition, while the latter has opened themselves up to receive it.

Iris’s self-control didn’t fully free her in itself. She returns to tell Josh that he can’t control her actions anymore, and this leads to him beating and harming her, almost to death, in a way that felt almost ‘too real’ as a woman watching. In the outside world, she has no money, no immediate means of acquiring it, and Josh would constantly have interest in trying to suppress her again. He is so entrenched in his position as Last Man, killing her to maintain the order is better than letting her go. This is a situation with very real grounding as the UN reported in 2023 that “140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes” (UN Women Press Release). De Beauvoir writes that “abstract rights are not enough to define the actual concrete situation of woman; this depends in large part on her economic role; and frequently abstract liberty and concrete powers vary in inverse ratio” (116). The granting of abstract rights to women would indicate a push toward cohesion in the interest of the patriarchal Master’s power. It helps stabilize their power through appeasement. Long-standing customs involving patriarchy and misogyny can still undermine any abstract right or self-control a woman has. Iris’s self-control was meaningless in the face of Josh’s attempts to dominate her yet again, but when she finally was able to win the fight, killing him, it was the first time that her decisions were completely in her hands again.

Just like any other woman who escapes an abuser, she was faced with her freedom and the choices of her future action with no more rigid structure to adhere to. As she showered after, the opening monologue played again, but now, freed from her situation, she ascribes the meaning’s source to herself. Her hand had gotten burnt in the struggle, and she peels it, revealing her robotic hand’s form underneath, and she smiles. Iris has found meaning again in knowing the true nature of her subordination and in independently overcoming it. She has transformed from the Last Woman to an Übermensch. She gains economic independence by stealing a car and taking the large sum of money for herself. Realistically, however, she has only escaped a microcosm of woman’s situation, and while she seems equipped well to take on the outside world, she would be faced with society’s hinderances against the realization of mutual recognition whether that be on the basis that she’s a robot lady. Even if they didn’t know she was a robot, they’d still see her as a woman.

She’s traded an intensely controlled microcosm of woman’s situation for the macrocosm of the same one, and she is tasked with maintaining her creativity and joy in finding meaning, not succumbing to a stagnant dynamic once again. Having the funds she does, at the very least, she’s in a better position than most. An unfortunate conclusion from Josh’s demise is that without the Master letting go of their desire to dominate another, mutual recognition cannot be achieved. If the Slave withdraws the previous affirmation of them as good, instead treating them as evil, this can motivate the Master’s sense of self to erode in such a way that deeper recognition becomes possible and desirable. A woman must intentionally avoid assigning all the meaning in her life to a relational dynamic, becoming a ‘Last Woman,’ and instead, waking up to and questioning how patriarchal dynamics have previously limited her sense of identity. It is then that she can understand life’s meaning as her own to create, an important step in overcoming a previously dictated, suppressed, or limited sense of identity and selfhood.

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Framework of Understanding:

Combined Hegelian & Nietzschean Master-Slave Dynamic (Societal Power Dynamics)

1. Initial struggle for recognition stemming from will to power and natural tendency toward domination

2. Master/One (essential) & Slave/Other (inessential) established by submission out of fear and to preserve their life (will to life)

3. Dominating morality & values are created through Master's will to power/truth as they use the Other for labor for their own aims. Egoistic & self-affirming, what they are is ‘good’ and what they aren't is ‘bad’

4. Shaping the external world through labor, the Other gains awareness of themselves as self-conscious and the lack of reciprocal recognition as inadequate

5. The Other posits values that oppose and invert the Master's, reasserting their essentiality and will to power through a turn inward as they lack the external power of the Master. Bad and unegoistic is now ‘good’, and what was good is now ‘evil’

6. If posited in an honest way, unegoistic values overcome the natural tendency toward domination of another's will (for one's one power and self-interest), and mutual recognition can be realized

   The more pervasive slave morality is, the more weakened the Master's self-interested dominating drives become. The Master's authority also weakens, eroding their egoistic ideals and sense of self, and old methods of dominance become ineffective. They may, however, attempt new methods of suppressing will to power, life, and truth in an attempt to maintain control and dominance.

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“The Last [Wo]man”

(edited—changed Last Man to Last Woman—from Thus Spake Zarathustra)

Alas! there cometh the time when woman will no longer launch the arrow of her longing beyond man—and the string of her bow will have unlearned to whizz!

I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.

Alas! There cometh the time when woman will no longer give birth to any star. Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable woman, who can no longer despise herself.

Lo! I show you THE LAST WOMAN.

“What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?”—so asketh the last woman and blinketh.

The earth hath then become small, and on it there hoppeth the last woman who maketh everything small. Her species is ineradicable like that of the ground-flea; the last woman liveth longest.

“We have discovered happiness”—say the last women, and blink thereby.

They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they need warmth. One still loveth one’s neighbour and rubbeth against him; for one needeth warmth.

Turning ill and being distrustful, they consider sinful: they walk warily. She is a fool who still stumbleth over stones or men!

A little poison now and then: that maketh pleasant dreams. And much poison at last for a pleasant death.

One still worketh, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest the pastime should hurt one.

One no longer becometh poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wanteth to rule? Who still wanteth to obey? Both are too burdensome.

No shepherd, and one herd! Every one wanteth the same; every one is equal: she who hath other sentiments goeth voluntarily into the madhouse.

“Formerly all the world was insane,”—say the subtlest of them, and blink thereby.

They are clever and know all that hath happened: so there is no end to their raillery. People still fall out, but are soon reconciled—otherwise it spoileth their stomachs.

They have their little pleasures for the day, and their little pleasures for the night, but they have a regard for health.

“We have discovered happiness,”—say the last women, and blink thereby.

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Works Cited

De Beauvoir, S. (1956). The Second Sex (H. M. Parshley, Ed. & Trans.). Jonathan Cape. (Original work published 1949)

Friedrich Nietzsche. (1968). The Will to Power (W. Kaufmann, Ed.; W. Kaufmann & R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). Random House.

Hancock, D. (Director). (2025). Companion. Warner Bros. Pictures.

Hegel, G. W. F. (1977). Phenomenology of Spirit (A. V. Miller, Trans.). Oxford Oxford Univ. Press.

Nietzsche, F. (1966). Beyond Good and Evil (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). Random House. (Original work published 1886)

Nietzsche, F. (1999). Thus Spake Zarathustra (T. Common, Trans.). Project Gutenberg eBook. (Original work published 1883)

Nietzsche, F., Ansell-Pearson, K., & Diethe, C. (2012). On the Genealogy of Morality. Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1887)

UN Women. (2024, November 25). One woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by their intimate partner or family member. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/11/one-woman-or-girl-is-killed-every-10-minutes-by-their-intimate-partner-or-family-member