t's been eight years since Thomas Thomas (Verhaert) saw anyone in the flesh. Not only does he suffer from an acute case of agoraphobia, but he quite literally can't bear to be in the same room as another human being. Fortunately for Thomas, however, he lives in an age when the visiophone can attend to nearly every human need—with it Thomas can chat with his mother (who calls him too much anyway), arrange to get his vacuum cleaner fixed, meet with his therapist, even fulfill his desires with his favorite virtual vixen via a cybersex suit.
But this is far from an ideal life, or at least that's what people keep telling him. That's why his therapist eventually decides that Thomas should enroll in a dating service. Sure, no one really believes in them, but everyone still uses them; and, sure, the fact remains that Thomas isn't going to be able to actually meet any of his "dates" face to face, but the insurance company still thinks it's a good idea.
So, reluctantly, Thomas agrees to give it a try. At the same time, however, having discovered that (as a "handicapped" individual) he's eligible for a medically endorsed prostitute, Thomas contacts one out of curiosity. The results of both these attempts to meet a "real" woman are quite surprising.
After a few somewhat embittering washouts, Thomas actually meets someone through the dating service where there's a potential for mutual interest—a young woman named Melody (Pinglaut) who makes video poems and is active with her color tribe, and who might even be willing to have cybersex with Thomas, despite how passé and creepy she thinks it is. And then there's Eva (Yay), the melancholy and irascible medically endorsed prostitute to whom Thomas finds himself inexplicably drawn.
But then, as often happens in relationships, Thomas finds himself faced with his greatest fears—both these women let it be known that, if it's going to work between them, Thomas is going to have to leave his apartment and meet them face to face, in the flesh. But isn't Thomas' condition a very real thing? But, then again, isn't his love?
A virtually real romantic comedy
It would be easy to see how a movie shot entirely from the point of view of what someone sees on their computer screen—or "visiophone"—would be tough to watch, but Thomas in Love makes it work. This film is a colorful one—from the eye-catching graphics of the different sites Thomas visits and interacts with, to the highly personalized and stylized environs and body adornments of the various people he communicates with, to the ways in which the film's actors portray the (often quirky) personalities of these characters.
It's a testament to the effectiveness of Thomas in Love's writing, direction and acting that viewers can witness the various emotional changes Thomas undergoes merely by hearing the sound of his voice, seeing others' reactions to him, and watching how and where he surfs on his visiophone. (Dramatic pacing is often accomplished simply with jumps in Thomas' input or by a shot of his visiophone tuned to a dead channel.) Despite the fact that it's on and of the two-dimensional screen, Thomas in Love is very much a three-dimensional film. Thomas' "fully human" objects of desire (Melody and Eva) are just that, beautiful to him, warts and all. Thomas is ultimately a sensitive guy, which makes him both thoughtful and cranky, and the interactions he has with "real" people are the most challenging, which means they're the most frustrating but also the most rewarding.
Thomas in Love does drag a bit in a few sections, however, and its first two-thirds seem to work better than its endgame. It's hard to tell whether the story gives in to sentimentalité or ironie when all's said and done, or maybe it's a bit of both. Warts and all, though, this film's an appealing, smart look at the roller-coaster weirdness that is human sexuality and relationships (or, perhaps more accurately, what they could or may become in a digital age), in all their gorgeous awkwardness. And like "real" relationships themselves, Thomas in Love is far from predictable, which is a refreshing thing to see in a romantic comedy, or, rather, a romantic science-fiction comedy.
