Electric Dreams - Steve Barron - (1984) DVD

Architect Miles Harding buys a personal computer to help organize his life. He chooses a machine that takes over and manages all his electrical appliances, lighting, cooking and home security. But after he spills champagne on the computer in a foolish attempt to cool it down during an overload, it starts to develop a mind of its own. Hearing cellist Madeline Roberstadt rehearsing in the apartment above, the computer electronically accompanies her on its synthesizer. Thinking that this is Miles, she is touched. The two of them quickly fall in love. Not telling Madeline about the computer, Miles starts teaching it about love in order to get it to write love songs for her. But as the computer's intelligence begins to grow, it starts to become jealous of him, wanting to love Madeline for itself.


Electric Dreams is a sweet little film. The playful computer-styled credits promisingly announce it as a "fairy-tale for computers". After all at that point we had had films about computers and robots with sexual needs - Demon Seed (1977), Saturn 3 (1980) - why not romantic ones as well? But what follows is all a little too po-faced towards its subject to work. Electric Dreams lacks the promised effervescence, it is merely earnestly enthused when it should be colorfully tongue-in-cheek. And what should have been dizzy slapstick emerges as only heavy-handed. The romance is pleasant but bland - Virginia Madsen is, as always, fine but Lenny Von Dohlen, of unsettlingly piercing eyes, is played as an incredible drip.

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