Big Bug (stylized BigBug) is a 2021 Science Fiction Comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It was released on Netflix, 9 years after his previous film The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet. It stars Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane De Grodt, Claude Perron and Isabelle Nanty.
Set in the year 2050, the story takes place in the suburb where Alice lives with her daughter Nina and the many mechas which serve as maids or entertainment (Monique who helps with the cooking and cleaning, and Einstein who shares his wide knowledge and plays games). She is visited by many people such as Max, the flirtacious representative of an artistic agency (accompanied by his son Leo) and Victor, Alice's ex-husband who is setting to go on a vacation with his new companion Jennifer. After Alice's neighbor Françoise arrives, the house gets locked. The uprise of androids named Yonyx has happened, which has led Alice's house to switch to a defensive parameter. Things get awry as the inhabitants start to get impatient and will try anything to get out.
Written four years prior to its release, Big Bug didn't find any investment until Netflix agreed to finance the film.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Advertising: An advertising drone keeps floating around the neighborhood, even when people are supposed to be asleep.
- Affectionate Nickname: Victor is called "Honeybunch" by Jennifer.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Nestor, the AI of the house who forces a lockdown, is viewed as such by the humans until we find out that it is actually trying to protect them from the Yonyx bots outside.
- Alliterative Title: Big Bug.
- And This Is for...: Françoise kicks a dead Yonyx in the gut, saying "This is for Greg.", only for her to hurt her foot as a result.
- Arc Words
- "We'll have fun together.", said by Einstein and Monique, when she takes Einsein's place as a severed head.
- "To err is human" is a recurring concept in the film. While the house bots try to act human by following that motto, Alice is proud of being a human by how flawed she is.
- Artificial Stupidity
- How the Yonyx bots managed to wipe out their own kind. After one of them made a mistake issuing death warrants to all hostile humans through a computer, it managed to scan its own face as the target to be wiped out, and since naturally all Yonyx look identical, they get executed by their own drones.
- Einstein's intelligence can be parametered by his owner's will. Victor often decides to lower down his intelligence level to 1 before attempting to do something risky against the bots.
- Ass Shove: The Yonyx bot that's menacing the humans is finally defeated by drilling holes to its feet and immobilizing it by attaching it to the floor with long screws and then introducing a live wire to its rear end.
- Benevolent A.I.: Nestor turns out to be that way, despite the humans thinking that it was forcing a lockdown on them out of pure evil.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Alice shouts one to the big advertising drone. The "shut up" is so big that the drone drifts away and explodes.
- Book Burning: The Yonyx bot considers that Alice has too many books in her house and proceeds to destroy them with his laser ray.
- The Cameo:
- Albert Dupontel appears as a man who accidently kills people (and himself) with his abusive prothestetic arm.
- Dominique Pinon, one of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's recurrent actors, briefly appears as a man who got blind after getting surgery for a super vision.
- City on the Water: Victor and Jennifer plan to go to "Isola Paradiso", an artificial island which serves as a vacation resort.
- Character Tics: Greg, since he is an injured robot, gets twitchy from time to time.
- Combining Mecha: Monique gets killed by the Yonyx box and later has her head replaced with Einstein's. He is now capable of doing maid tasks on top of entertaining people with his knowledge...at least, when his intelligence isn't dialed down to 1 before he attempts them, which just results in a form of Domestic Appliance Disaster.
- Dance Party Ending: The movie ends with Alice and Victor dancing the tango.
- Dead Man Writing: After her death, Monique leaves one last message for the humans: to stay human.
- The Ditz: Jennifer is presented as such. However, she has the idea to log into an old computer in order to send a digital Message in a Bottle in order to seek out external help.
- Divorce Is Temporary: Alice and Victor get back together at the end of the film while Jennifer leaves with Max.
- Do-Anything Robot: Monique is capable of filling any maid task while Einstein is the best robot for discussion or games.
- Double Vision: Most of the Yonyx bots are played by one actor: François Levantal.
- Einstein Hair: A robotic variant for Einstein (the house bot).
- Fake-Out Opening: The film starts with a sequence of "Homo Ridiculus", a show where the Yonyx bots humiliate humans. After fireworks spell out the film's title, it cuts to Leo who was watching the show on a screen.
- Fade Out: Most scenes end with a fade to black.
- Fictional Currency: The bitdol.
- Fish-Eye Lens: As common in this film as on other Jean-Pierre Jeunet films.
- For Inconvenience, Press "1": Monique turns into an IVR when she gets slapped by Jennifer.Monique: To reinitialize, press one. To make a complaint, press two. To reach technical advice, press three.
- Future Slang: Leo sometimes ends his sentence with "-vaxx" or adds unnecessary prefixes in his words.
- Happily Adopted: Nina was adopted in Holland but still loves her parents.
- Happy Circus Music: Julius Fucík's "Entry of the Gladiators" is played as the humans have to act in a circus-themed episode of "Homo Riduculus".
- Hates Their Parent: Inverted with Max often disregarding his own son. When Alice mentions her replaceable dogs, Max hopes he could do the same with teenagers. When Leo joins Nina to defend her from the Yonyx bots, Max doesn't care and drives away with Jennifer.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Jennifer sides with the Yonyx bots as a desperate way for her to leave the house. Realizing that they won't help her, she helps the humans fight the Yonyx bot. Later on, she dumps Victor for Max and the two get away while the other humans are ambushed by more Yonyx bots.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Monique stands in the Yonyx's way when he is about to shoot down Alice with his laser.
- Hypnotic Eyes: The Yonyx bot can hypnotise via staring.
- Hitler Ate Sugar: Nina makes a remark about how Leo doesn't drink alcohol and doesn't eat meat, just like that one mustached dictator.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Yonyx bot decides to lower down the AC's level to freezing temperatures. It turns out to be an advantage for the humans since the Yonyx bot had his normal vision damaged and needs to use its infrared vision to see the humans. After covering themselves in frozen clothing, the humans gang up on the Yonyx.
- Holding the Floor: Leo distracts the house bots with paradox about swiss cheese and how more holes lead up to less cheese. Later on, The house bots distract the Yonyx bot with that same scheme.
- A House Divided: Some humans and bots start to get on each other's nerves as the isolation starts to get them more and more anxious.
- Humans Are Flawed: Einstein sums it up best when the bots think about the idea to act more human:Einstein: ''If it works, we'll have succeeded. If it doesn't, we'll have made an error. So we'll have succeeded, because "to err is human"!
- Humiliation Conga: Inverted. The Yonyx bots humiliates humans through a TV show called "Homo Ridiculus" where they're treated as animals. Later in the film, the Yonyx bot forces the humans to act in a circus-themed episode of the show.
- I Lied: Max turns out to work in property instead of being an artistic agent and only pretended in order to get engaged with Alice.
- I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Played in an opportunistic manner with Jennifer, after seeing the Yonyx bot take down two other bots with his laser ray. She tells him about how she supports the Yonyx project.
- I Was Just Joking: After the Yonyx bot is defeated, all the humans beg Einstein to open up the house. This is the moment where Einstein makes jokes, much to the humans' anger.
- Intimate Healing: How our characters try to warm up while the AC gets colder and colder.
- Jerkass: Max. He acknowledges it by saying he is an "elite piece of shit".
- The Juggernaut: Jennifer becomes one after being hypnotized by the Yonyx bot.
- Lockdown: The whole premise of the film.
- Long-Lived: According to the analysis of Nestor, Françoise is expected to live until the ripe old age of 112.
- Machine Monotone: Monique's voice almost sounds synthesized.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Both sexes turn out to be pretty horny, though it's Max who lies to get sex and Leo who kisses Nina almost immediately, prompting a scandalized reaction even though she's interested in him.
- Mind Control: The Yonyx Bot hypnotises Jennifer in order for her to open up the door for him. The mind control is so effective that Jennifer becomes unstoppable when the other humans try to keep her from using a keypad.
- Mourning a Dead Robot: Françoise is completely heartbroken by Greg's death.
- Not Quite Dead: Monique is killed by the Yonyx bot but later appears as a severed head, taking Einstein's place while Einstein's head is on the body of Monique.
- Overcrank: Played for Laughs when the humans are forced to act in an episode of "Homo Ridiculus" and later played for dramatic effects as the humans fight the Yonyx bot.
- Pain to the Ass: On an episode of "Homo Ridiculus", Yonyx bots puts a butt brand on a human dressed as cattle.
- P.O.V. Cam: Some scenes are viewed through the eyes of Monique or the Yonyx bot.
- Practical Effects: All the bots who aren't played by actors were built for the film, Einstein being the most complex to craft and animate.
- Pun: Einstein is fond of those (and is likely to tell one if his intelligence level is set down to 1). The other house bots also appreciate puns as they try to learn humour in order to act more human.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The film was written before the COVID-19 pandemic, but a brief mention of "COVID-50" gets added to the end.
- Replacement Goldfish: Alice has 8 clones of her dog Toby. If one of them dies, she brings up a new one.Nina: Is he Toby 6 or Toby 7 ?
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Monique appears as such, until you hear her voice or see her cooking. Later on, the house bots attempt to act as human as possible. They read their books, learn about their humour and realize that humans are defined by their flaws, giving them the confidence that they're not robots. Before Monique sacrificed herself to save Alice from the Yonyx bot's laser, she downloaded an empathy mod inside her system.
- Robosexual: Françoise towards her sports bot Greg.
- Robot Buddy:
- Nina has a soft spot for Tom, her old toy robot.
Leo: You kept your baby robot ?- Einstein was specifically built by Victor for entertainment or distraction purposes, although he can also be an advisor.
Einstein: I propose: conversations on metaphysics, science, philosophy, wordplay, charades... We'll have fun together. - Robot Names: The Yonyx bot is precisely named "Yonyx Z-7389-X- AB2".
- Shout-Out
- Alice quotes French actress Sarah Bernhardt at the beginning of the film.
- Einstein is named after (and looks like) the German scientist.
- The house robots start to read old literature and quote famous passages, sometimes in the wrong context.
- Show Within a Show: Homo Ridiculus is a TV show where Yonyx bots put humans in ridiculous settings where they're forced to act as animals.
- Signature Laugh: Monique has a delayed laugh which could be typical for a robot.
- Slasher Smile: The Yonyx bots often bear one, complete with eerily large and white teeth.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The Yonyx bots have taken over the world in an incredibly fast pace.
- Uninvited to the Party: Back in 5th grade, Max hasn't been invited to a birthday party by a girl she loved, considering it as the moment he knew he was a loser.
- Vocal Dissonance: In some scenes, Monique speaks with audio bits of commercials.Monique (human voice): Herbal tea or regular ? Fruit juice ? Coffee ?Monique (deep voice): I recommand Gold Bean, the strongest coffee ever. With Gold Bean coffee, you can sleep when you're dead.
