#it really heightened the creepiness of that scene. because most of the book moves along really fast (there's a lot of plot to get through

[coquelicoq]

very delightful to follow you postings on the count of monte christo. but what is this about parts of the novel being cut in the translation?

je suis contente que tu les apprecies, comme ce n'est que grâce à toi que je possède cet exemplaire! mille mercis de me l'avoir envoyé <3

the version that i originally read as a kid (and then reread last year) is not just an english translation but also an abridgment: the lowell bair 1956 translation, which is about 950 pages shorter than the french original. even though english versions of french works are generally shorter because of syntax, word length, and general literary conventions, that only accounts for a little bit of the page discrepancy here lol.

dumas tends to rephrase the same thing several times, so a lot of the abridging is just condensing that stuff down to a single sentence. but on top of that, several sideplots also had to go, malheuresement. well, heureusement in some cases (i was bored to near tears by the lengthy description of hashish), but it also means that he cut out an entire chapter between villefort and his dad 😢 and removed pretty much everything that makes franz an interesting character. but c'est la vie when you're abridging! something's gotta go. getting rid of franz's adventures did allow him to cut like 100 pages in one fell swoop, which i can see the appeal of when you're trying to shorten 1400 pages to a third of that length.

there's no excuse for cutting the villefort-noirtier chapter though. i'm never getting over that.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Erica Review - Grab The Popcorn

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/erica-review-grab-the-popcorn/

Erica Review - Grab The Popcorn

Erica never lets you feel at ease for long. In one scene, a character teaches Erica how to play a song on the piano–you’re encouraged to memorize the cute little melody and try to perform the correct timing. But just when you start playing along, somebody suddenly starts coughing up blood everywhere, it’s messy and gross, everyone starts screaming, and the vibe is killed. In Erica you have to treasure those sweet breaks before they’re swiftly swiped from your hands and replaced with a solid helping of worry, stress, and a side of confusion.

A fully filmed playable thriller in which the titular character is on a mission to help solve a murder case that she has strange family ties to, Erica utilizes some subtle yet effective film-inspired techniques–like match on action and screen wipes triggered by touchpad interactions–to tell its enigmatic tale. To progress each scene, you choose dialogue options and make various adventure game-like actions. The game bounces back and forth in time between Erica’s childhood with her father to the mess that is modern-day life, in which she has to move to a strange hospital her late parents helped create for her own safety.

Erica, played by real-life actor Holly Earl, is a relatable, if malleable, protagonist. Earl regularly looks like she’s bewildered or uncomfortable, exactly how you feel as a viewer in most of the situations. She seems thoughtful and patient, but other than that there isn’t too much of a set personality for her. You decide through your in-game choices if she’s more passive or aggressive or unhelpful during the case, and because of the high stakes murder circumstances, switching her attitude and approach never feels abrupt nor out of character. Even if you spend most of the game being rude, you can be friendly to someone and it doesn’t feel weird. Your reactions, and in turn Erica’s, are likely to change frequently during a playthrough every time new information pops up, objectives change, and new, incredibly peculiar characters enter the picture.

Somehow, every new character you meet is more suspicious than the last. Everyone talks to you like they just poisoned the food you’re eating. There’s a sequence in the courtyard where you can choose a girl to hang out with and get to know better, and right after you pick a possible pal to spend the afternoon with, the head of the hospital says, “Just remember that some of the girls here… Uh… They can be quite manipulative,” and just walks away. The guy is nowhere to be found after that, and you’re left sitting there wondering why would he say that–and before you know it, you’re overthinking every interaction because you don’t know which person he was insinuating was going to manipulate you. All of the secrets, ulterior motives, and Erica’s own faulty memory cause for some very intriguing “Trust nobody, not even yourself” gameplay.

Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it’s what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way. The plot is ever-changing and chaotic; you’re attempting to solve a crime by talking to a plethora of weirdos in an unfamiliar, creepy place while having stifling flashbacks of your messed-up childhood. There’s so many forces clashing and intense situations going on that you find yourself yearning to make sense of even the smallest mystery just to feel grounded. There was a time where Erica was being gaslit by a character and I ended up shaking my fist and yelling “She’s not crazy, you’re just lying!” at my TV–but even though that character annoyed me I kept listening to them in case they accidentally dropped a small hint to steer me in the right direction, and they did. Erica is a striking example of a whodunit that’s heightened by its enthralling characters, shady occult science, and recollections of previous trauma.

From the overall murder case to smaller questions like what kind of hospital you’re staying at, there are a number of mysteries weaving together concurrently throughout Erica. It’s easy to miss context that’s vital to understanding the full picture. You might get an answer to a question that’s been burning in your mind for the last half hour, but that answer could be a truth that presents new pathways to choose from or a lie that leads you astray. That mystery management is exciting and makes every experience with the game its own curious, isolated thriller molded by whatever answers and stories you care about at the time.

You can use either a DualShock 4 controller or a companion phone app to play Erica; the latter is smooth and seamless for the most part, while the former is bogged down by a clunky implementation of touchpad controls and is the far less preferable option. As you move through the narrative, you alternate between selecting which areas to explore, choosing dialogue options like “contempt” or “desperation,” and performing no-stakes everyday actions like cleaning the fog from a mirror or turning on the sink. Potential actions are shown as silhouettes on-screen, and there’s also a mock trajectory of where to swipe your hand on your phone if you’re using the app. The inputs are all done by small, comfortable hand swipes, not extending to the full horizontal or vertical reach of the screen.

Most actions are intuitive, and you feel like you know where to swipe and what you can do before the game even tells you. There’s a moment where you and a detective walk up to an empty reception desk that has a bell sitting on it, for example. I lit up when I saw it and I started tapping on the screen a bunch–Erica didn’t hesitate to mimic my actions in her world and ding away, so much so that the detective swatted her hand off of it because he got annoyed. The straightforward motions make navigating trouble-free, and being able to quickly deduce what moves you can make adds a connection to the moment-to-moment gameplay. It keeps your focus on the important things, like figuring out what the heck is going on in the story.

Choices and quick-time events happen every 30 seconds or so, which may sound overwhelming, but it isn’t so in practice. Most of the time, they aren’t high pressure actions; they’re a chain of a few choices, and those chunks are separated by longer cutscenes every so often. They do eventually get mundane and feel unnecessary, especially if you choose to use the DualShock 4, though. The game is controlled entirely with touch, and while the swipes are supposed to be a convenience for your hands, it’s difficult to perform them on the small DualShock touchpad without your fingers slipping off or hitting the joysticks. There were also a few occasions where the companion app was slightly unresponsive, which is something that can have game-changing consequences if it happens at a critical moment. It takes a second to get back into the game’s rhythm after there’s a blip in the controls. They’re small things, but those shortcomings pull you out of what is otherwise a really engrossing experience.

In general, the filmic elements are integrated so carefully that it’s a genuine and mostly calculated mix of two mediums. Erica is in the middle of game and movie, and a lot of small mechanics add up to show that. For example, the character Erica is an artist, and there’s a scene fairly early on where you can flip through the pages of her artbook. Looking through a character’s personal items is a common feature in interactive adventure games, but the detail that went into shooting the natural angles of each flip makes it an even more intimate way of gaining insight into who the character is. Outside of the footage itself, all of the trophy pop-ups are paused until you complete the game, which goes a long way to keep you from getting distracted. It’s a small, fitting touch for a game that values story so much.

Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it’s what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way.

There are also some sneaking situations that are made better by the film aspect. There are always conversations happening behind closed doors, and because you have so many questions that you need answered, sometimes you have to be a weirdo and eavesdrop on people. If you peek out for too long or open the door too fast, they’ll see you, stop their conversation, and share an awkward glance with you. Because it’s footage of actual peoples’ facial expressions, it makes you cringe a little more–and that is one of the most high-tension fail states I can imagine.

The whole time, the game marinates you in a constant anxious energy that fuels a curiosity for the dodgy, mysterious world that you’re influencing. Some scenes you’re just holding a book or a photo and staring at it for details, but since it’s paired with an insidious sting it transforms what would be a normal occasion into bitter dread. There are flashbacks, dreams, and abnormal things happening frequently; oftentimes you’re forced to decide on the one secret you want to uncover the most and drop the others. Should you pick up the phone that’s been ringing in the lobby or check out that weird ghost thing in the hallway? There are some decisions that are straight-up difficult–high-stakes ones where, in the bottom of your heart, you don’t know what the right thing to do is, but you know you have to do something. Those times will have you wishing that this game was just a movie, but Erica is more than that.

Erica has a strong, fleshed-out narrative full of twists and turns that each bring their own unique piece to the story. Its cryptic tone is carried through the audio, visuals, and writing; it never lets you relax. Sometimes weird controls jolt you out, but there is an abundance of enticing threads to follow, and it’s a treat to be able to mold your own adventure out of it. Using a combination of crisp cinematography and FMV-specific game mechanics, Erica never fails to hook you into its haunting, mysterious world.

Source : Gamesport

[fandammit]

With a Little Help (3/5)

[A/N: If you asked for certain character interactions and don’t see it here, there’s a chance it shows up in part 4. I split this chapter up because it got a bit long. And I love fluff to escape from the dystopia of the current canon and the reality of the US. Thanks, as always, to @shefollowedfires for her beta skills.]

On Ao3 || Part 1 || Part 2

Looking back on it, he realizes that he should’ve suspected something when Octavia brought up the idea of a weekly movie night.

“A movie night?” He asks, looking down at Octavia in the hospital bed, a completely bewildered expression on his face.

She shrugs, as if this is a perfectly reasonable request. Bellamy, too, at her side, looks completely nonplussed.

He crosses his arms in front of him, unable to keep a look of skepticism from skittering across his features.

“You just asked me to approve a summer solstice festival.”

She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, and now we’re asking you to approve a weekly movie night,” she says, nonchalant and casual in a way that only heightens his skepticism. As if she hasn’t spent the last few months cutting a wide swath of vengeance through rebellious grounder factions and has instead been planning Arkadia’s community events.

Bellamy looks down at her and then back up at him. There’s a nervous sort of energy to him that Marcus can’t quite figure out, though he has a sneaking suspicion that getting Bellamy alone might prove productive.

“It’ll be good for everyone, sir,” Bellamy says, nodding at nothing in particular. “Boost morale. We haven’t had a chance to do anything just - you know - for fun since - .”

“Since you all shoved us a ship and sent us down here to die,” Octavia finishes up for him. She huffs and shakes her head. “Or really ever,” she says bluntly. The words hold no malice behind him; she says them as if she’s commenting on the weather or the next location of the traveling market. Still, part of him wants to flinch away from them.  

He sighs and rubs a hand across his beard, considering. Finally, he looks over at them, his shoulders slumped in acquiescence.

“Do we even have any movies?”

Octavia and Bellamy look at each other, then burst out laughing. He might be slightly offended if he weren't so glad to see them actually getting along.

A few hours later, as he's astounded by the vastness of their movie collection, he understands their laughter.

“I can’t believe we have so many movies,” he bursts out during dinner that night with Abby.

She raises an eyebrow at him, but simply keeps eating her summer squash as he continues on.

“I can think of a dozen things off the top of my head that we could use more than those movies.” He crosses his arms in front of him, listing each item on his fingers. “We could’ve used more of the medical equipment down there. Those history books I saw in the back quarter would be useful, too. And yet, somehow, almost every dvd from the collection found its way over here.”

She laughs.

He looks at her, his expression communicating deep disappointment.

“Abby.”

She stops laughing but can’t keep from smiling up at him.

“What? That’s what happens when you put teenagers in charge of deciding what to salvage in the archives room.” She reaches across the table and tugs on his wrist, twining their fingers together when he uncrosses his arms. “And besides, there’s something hopeful about the whole thing. Like they were trying to imagine a world where we’d need movies more than we needed guns.”

“We need both,” he grumbles, but squeezes her hand anyway, somewhat mollified.

Two nights later, as they’re sitting down in a crowded mess hall watching some absurdly romantic movie, Bellamy feels Octavia’s sharp elbow dig into his rib. She points to the entrance. He turns to see Kane shuffling in about a quarter of the way through the movie. He watches as Kane carefully picks his way through the crowd and slides into a seat next to Abby, looking around then kissing her on the cheek as he settles in. Kane leans in close to whisper something in Abby’s ear but she only reaches up to pat his cheek and points to the movie, effectively hushing him. Bellamy grins.

“Finally he gets here,” Octavia breathes out next to him, impatience lighting across every word.

He shifts in his chair to look over at her sitting in a wheelchair, her body piled high with blankets.

“He only missed the first twenty minutes. The scene we want him to see isn’t until close to the end.”

She nods and moves her attention back to the movie, though he knows she spends most of it surreptitiously glancing over at Kane and Abby. He only knows this, of course, because he does as well.

With thirty minutes left, he feels a hard tap on the back of his neck. He turns around and finds himself looking at Murphy, whose expression is somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“Will you two cut it the fuck out,” he hisses, very obviously keeping his gaze from Kane and Abby's direction. “You’re lucky that they're both so focused on the movie that they can't see how goddamn creepy you're all being.”

“What do you mean - ,” Bellamy starts, but is interrupted by a sound he feels like he hasn't  heard in years.

Octavia is giggling.

He looks over at her and his heart aches even as his face involuntarily breaks into a smile so big his cheeks hurt. She looks over at him and her eyes are shining with delight, a giggle tumbling out of her; he thinks his chest might crack with the twin pressures of nostalgia and regret thumping in his veins. She sounds as young as he'd tried to keep her, once; carefree in a way he knows she'll never really be again.

“Bellamy, look,” she says in a hushed voice, grabbing his arm. He follows her gaze and almost laughs out loud himself.

Kane and Abby are entranced by the scene that's projected above them, both leaning forward and staring intently, oblivious to all else. Which is just as well because Clarke, Raven, Harper, Monty, Miller and Brian are all turned in their chairs facing them rather than the movie at the front of the room. Raven and Clarke’s eyes dart back and forth between the two and the movie, their heads bent together closely in whispered conversation, while Monty seems to literally be taking down notes on a pad of paper in front of him.

Murphy huffs quietly behind him and shakes his head, but even he lets a smile slip out.

“At least we know they’re paying attention to what we wanted,” he drawls out, sparing a glance at Kane and Abby before turning back to the screen.

The credits are still rolling across the projected screen when Abby steps over and gives Clarke a hug good night. Clarke hugs her back, making sure to say good night to Kane as she does, always cognizant to acknowledge them as a unit. He smiles at her and, after a hesitant moment, reaches out to squeeze her gently on her shoulder. She sees her mother watching the whole exchange with a small, tender smile on her face and feels a warring sensation of affection and exasperation.  

With one last smile, her mother turns away as she and Kane make their way out of the still-crowded mess hall, walking so closely that their hands brush up against each other with every step. It isn’t until they’re almost completely out of sight that Clarke sees Kane rest his arm across her mother’s shoulder and pull Abby in closer to drop a kiss into her hairline.

She huffs and shakes her head.

“Seriously,” Raven says next to her, “they do realize that we all know they’re together now, right? It’s like they’re only affectionate if they think no one’s watching.” She grimaces. “And then it’s too much.”

Something in Clarke’s chest loosens as she looks up at Raven.

“So, it’s not just me?”

Raven raises an eyebrow at her.

“I just told you it wasn’t.” She pauses and takes in Clarke’s confused look. “Oh, you mean do they do that with just you.” She shakes her head. “Even before they were really together” she says, waving her hand in a backwards motion, “they were like that.”

It isn't the first time she's heard the modifier - or one like it - when describing her mother and Kane.

“Before they were actually or officially or finally together,” has been a phrase she's come to associate with her mother and Kane and those long winter months that she doesn't fit into.

“What were they like? How did you all know - before?” She asks, suddenly realizing how much she wants to know, how odd it is that she doesn't. She's spent nearly 18 years memorizing the shape of her mother; now she feels like there are new edges and angles and facets that she's not quite sure how to touch.

Raven smirks, a wry expression on her face.

“It was kind of hard to miss.”

“What do you mean?”  

“Well, for one - they were always together. Kane spent about half of his day just randomly dropping by medical for some fabricated reason. And Abby spent so much time in Kane’s room, talking Chancellor duties or whatever, that she might as well have moved in there. Also, your mom was always be touching him. Nothing big - just a hand on his shoulder, a touch on his arm, standing close enough to brush up against him. And Kane,” Raven huffs a laugh and shakes her head. “It’s like he was always holding himself back from touching her.”

“He’s still like that, sometimes,” Clarke comments, thinking of all the times that she’s seen him reach out in a stuttering way, or how his expression will register as surprised for the slightest moment every time her mom reaches out to him. “Like he’s unsure about touching her.”   

Raven nods.

“I think he’s still surprised that he’s allowed to.”

Clarke leans forward, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“But how did they get there? They were - .” She stops, suddenly unsure of the word to describe what they had been to one another when she’d left. Even then, enemies had already been outdated, friends not quite descriptive enough, either. “It just surprised me when I came back, I guess.”

Raven taps her fingers on the table and tilts her head as she considers Clarke's question.

“It was hard on your mom when - .” Raven stops herself before the words come out, but Clarke still sees them hang in the air between them:

When I left, she thinks, her heart thudding painfully in her chests

“She was recovering after Mt. Weather,” Raven finishes up instead, looking away from Clarke for a moment. Allowing them both to brush past the pain of it all. “Once she did, she just threw herself into work. I doubt she slept for a week straight once she was back on her feet.” The corner of Raven’s mouth turns up. “So Kane would walk her to her room to make sure she actually got some sleep.”

Clarke draws back and looks closely at Raven.

“How often?”

Raven looks closely at Clarke .

“Every night.” She takes in Clarke’s look of surprise and nods. “He was the only one who could actually get her to actually go sleep. Sometimes one of us would find her asleep at her desk or in the inventory room or in a booth in the dining hall, but if we woke her up, she'd just go right back to work. So eventually, we'd all just go find Kane because we knew she'd actually listen to him.”

Raven leans back in her chair and crosses her arms in front of her.

“It’s funny, because it’s not like Kane spent a lot of time taking care of himself. Your mom started eating lunch with him during the day to make sure he was actually taking the time to eat. Eventually, they just ended up spending most of their time together, each one making sure that the other person was ok.” She shakes her head, a look of fond exasperation on her face. “Turns out they’re both better at taking care of other people than they are of themselves.”

Clarke nods, turning Raven’s words over in her mind. She’s known this about her mother from as long as she can remember - her intensity in loving, the way she could focus all her energy on those around her. But Kane’s depth of emotion still surprises her sometimes, though more and more she realizes that it’s an unfair sentiment. It’s the same intensity of feeling he’s always had, she thinks, only focused in a wholly new way. On the Ark, his commitment had been to humanity at large, his allegiance to the preservation of some remote greater good; his devotion to her mother is that commitment writ smaller, his loyalty the same brand of allegiance now given a shape and a heart and a future.

“Lucky they have each other, then,” she finally says, surprised at the emotion she feels as she says the words. Not just in her belief in them, but in the honesty behind them. She looks away from Raven, focusing on her hands as she speaks. “I needed to be gone,” she says quietly, a truth she hates to confess. “I know - .”  She blows out a breath. “I wish that weren’t true. Because then things - other things - could’ve been different. Better, maybe.”

Raven stares thoughtfully at Clarke.

“You don’t think it would’ve happened if you’d been around?”

Clarke thinks for a moment, then shakes her head.

“I think it would’ve happened either way,” she says, thinking of the look on Kane’s face when her mother was strapped to that table in Mt. Weather, the way her mother reached out to Kane rather than her on the road home. She wonders, though, if her presence would’ve prolonged the inevitable. If her mother and Kane would’ve given in when they could no longer deny it, rather than when they both desperately needed it.

Raven looks at her for a long moment, considering her words, then shrugs.

“You’re probably right there.” She tilts her head at Clarke. “But I gotta say that I’m glad you’re around this time, even if it means that they’re taking their sweet time getting married.” She leans over and knocks her shoulder into Clarke. “We can’t just rely on my awesome brain to make this happen. We need you to order everyone around and make sure things actually get done.”

Clarke chuckles, then bumps her shoulder back into Raven.

“Glad I have some use to you.”

Raven’s smirk widens, turns in a genuine smile that brightens her entire face.

“Hey, that’s more than I can say of most people. You should feel special.”

Clarke nods and returns Raven’s smile with a small one of her own.

“I do.”

[spynotebook]

Director James Ponsoldt, center, with his stars John Boyega and Emma Watson, on the set of The Circle. All Images: STX

Creating a fictional company that’s basically Facebook, Google, and Apple rolled into one is no easy task. We know those brands. We live those brands. But in The Circle, co-writer and director James Ponsoldt had to do just that and so much more.

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In theaters today, The Circle is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Dave Eggers. It stars Tom Hanks as the leader of the titular tech giant and Emma Watson as its newest employee, who’ll soon become its most prominent too. It was in Watson’s character, Mae, that Ponsoldt first found a connection to the material.

“I saw myself in Mae,” the director told Gizmodo. “Her creeping anxiety, feeling like she’s not participating enough, not doing enough, was one that I could recognize. And I think also the feeling that she had some obligation to give up herself or share herself more than she was comfortable, was one that automatically upset me.”

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We all think about these things every day when we post an image on Instagram or change our status on Facebook. So Ponsoldt took those feelings and poured them into adapting Eggers book without the author even knowing. He wasn’t even paid for it to start. But he eventually got the script to the author and Eggers liked it so much, he passed it along to Tom Hanks. From there it was off to the races.

In The Circle, Eggers creates a company that has eaten all its competitors. It’s everything you love about the internet and technology, all rolled into one. Which is fine on the page, but in a movie, you have to see that kind of thing and believe this company is better than all the giants we use on a daily basis. Doing that, while not losing the focus of the movie, was a huge challenge for Ponsoldt as writer and director.

“I wanted to depict tech in a way that felt like it was in the background of the story with the characters in the forefront,” he said. “And also, design it from the ground up so that it only really exists in our movie.”

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Throughout the film, the audience never gets a full picture of what The Circle is or how it works. We see it, people use it, they have Circle phones and cameras, but you never get a full walkthrough—which makes sense because if the filmmakers actually figured out a site or tech that works as well as The Circle works, they could leave their Hollywood jobs for Silicon Valley. What you do get is a look at The Circle’s offices, which have to be equally as impressive for a company that size.

“We needed to think about what the real soul of this place was,” Ponsoldt said. “We did a lot of research, just visiting different tech campuses and looking at everything from, is everyone sitting or is everyone standing? Are they on treadmills? Is it an open floor plan? Is there glass in their private offices? Is their music? Have they personalized their desks? We wanted to get to the DNA of all those places. Are the meals free? Free concerts? Things like that.”

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And so The Circle has a very heightened, big time tech campus vibe. But what’s that vibe without the people? Ponsoldt eventually realized they could design the most beautiful sets ever, but it had to be filled with the right attitude.

“I think what struck us was the friendliness,” he said. “The almost aggressive friendliness, earnestness, and perkiness of the company. The sort of poppy, friendly bright quality as opposed to the cold, formal black and white, symmetrical dystopian qualities of it.”

And you don’t get that creepy kindness from an older crowd. In The Circle, almost all the employees are young. Someone even makes a joke that no one at the company has kids. It creates an eerie aesthetic which Ponsoldt believe fit in perfectly with what The Circle would actually be.

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“This is a youth-dominated industry where you can be an elder statesman by your early thirties and ancient if you’re in your forties,” Ponsoldt said. “And I think these campuses are wonderful. They’re all glass and shiny and free food and you can sleep there if you wanted, you feel like you’re at a giant park. And the work/home life line just blurs. Why would you leave? It’s great. And I think treating your workers right helps you get them to do more work for you. But that’s also time they don’t get to make real relationships, have kids and be actual parents to those kids. So part of it is their own choice.”

Besides the physical campus, one aspect of The Circle that does get some prominence in the movie is its online social interactivity. As Mae moves through her new life, the film almost constantly shows comments onscreen, from people off screen, who are watching Mae. And like you’d expect from most internet discussion threads, those responses run the gamut: funny, sad, creepy, disturbing, in all languages imaginable. It was important for Ponsoldt that the film’s chorus of commenters not only be varied but also international, just like the web itself.

Here’s a bit of what the comments in the movie look like.

“We tried to find the perfect pitch where you can only read one or two, but not so much that you’re totally taken out of the scene and they’ve obliterated the frame,” Ponsoldt said. He revealed that while he wrote most of the comments himself, Dave Eggers wrote several, as did Patton Oswalt and some of the producers. “It was obsessive,” he said. “And we constantly changed it and realized people really hung on, looking at it a lot. “

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As you can probably tell, painstaking detail was paid to making The Circle a believable tech company. But none of that matters if Ponsoldt didn’t deliver on the main point of the film: to get audiences to think about their own privacy.

“I personally am pro-technology. I’m pro-exploring outer space, the bottom of the sea, curing cancer, all of these connecting the world. These are all great things. But nowhere in that does it say that everyone should be surveilled, monitored, have their private information gathered and perhaps sold off to the highest bidder,” Ponsoldt said. “The truth is, most people don’t think about these things, or think that if you’re in dialogue with them, in a movie, you might be a technophobe. But it’s like, no, you should be talking about these things. It’s your stuff. It’s your identity. It’s your human rights.”