All of You review – Imogen Poots anchors Apple’s sci-fi tinged romance

The actor carries this modest relationship drama from a Black Mirror alum that takes us to familiar ‘what if?’ territory

At last year’s Toronto film festival, British romance All of You premiered at a time when we were starting to feel a little fatigued with films like it. The drama was one of the many Black Mirror-adjacent dystopias of that time, shown at the same festival as The Assessment (what if the right to have children was decided by someone else) and Daniela Forever (what if a lucid dream trial could reunite you with a dead partner). The year before had seen The Pod Generation (what if babies could be grown in artificial wombs), Foe (what if a body double could take your place) and Fingernails (what if true love had to be scientifically proven) and given the mostly subpar quality of them, we had started to dream of our own radical future, a land where these copycats ceased to exist.

After a lowkey festival debut, overshadowed by splashier fare, the film was picked up by Apple, neatly fitting into the platform’s tech-tinged fare (as well as the aforementioned Fingernails, the streamer also has Swan Song aka what if a clone could live your life after death). To its credit, All of You is one of the least egregious of an increasingly egregious subgenre, a surprise given its heritage. It’s directed and co-written by William Bridges, whose credits include not only Black Mirror (he wrote Shut Up and Dance and co-wrote both USS Callisters) but the instantly forgettable rip-off series Soulmates, a one season dud that did the “what if” but for a genetic love test. Bridges created that show with Ted Lasso breakout Brett Goldstein and the pair remain convinced of their concept, reusing it here, even down to the name of the company involved (Soul Connex). It makes the film a sort of strange spin-off, a continuation after a cancelled second season, fan service for fans who don’t seem to exist.