Susanna Cappellaro
Available to buy digitally from 14 February
Around a decade ago, music industry executive Scott Cohen made a decision that rocked his marriage. His wife, actor and filmmaker Susanna Cappellaro, wasn’t a fan of the two titanium piercings near his sternum – but they weren’t the problem. Cradled by metal bars in his chest but not permanently anchored was a small circuit board Cohen co-developed that vibrated whenever he faced north. , he said, would enhance his perception of the world and make him a cyborg.
Unnerved, Cappellaro decided to make a documentary about Cohen’s post-human ambitions and how their relationship had been affected. For obvious reasons, My Husband, the Cyborg isn’t an objective account of a relationship in turmoil. Instead, it is an intimate look at marital discord, captured in low-fi, often handheld footage.
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At the outset, Cappellaro says Cohen has put a piece of technology between them. In that context, the documentary feels like an attempt at asserting herself. “To keep filming was my way to be part of this journey,” she says. If he is to conduct this controversial experiment, she must be free to process it artistically.
Cohen seems to accept this, initially. It’s an outré version of the uneasy trade-offs couples make all the time: one for you, one for me. But it isn’t an agreement that always holds. Cohen seems deeply self-involved, yet he calls the documentary narcissistic. After his body repeatedly rejects the bars that secure his NorthSense, it becomes painful for the couple to hug, a problem that lasts for years. When Cappellaro says she misses their physical intimacy, Cohen simply tells her to adapt or outright denies anything has changed.
Cappellaro hits back often, particularly through the medium of the documentary. She volleys Cohen’s accusations of narcissism back at him with gusto, and insists on filming as he nervously tells his parents about the project. Worse, she is careless about hugging or touching him despite his pain. There is plenty of ugliness on both sides.
Much of the time, the film focuses on Cappellaro as she debates whether to follow her husband down this post-human road. If she doesn’t, could they support each other on separate, complementary joureys, holding hands across the divide, or does the only value of a marriage come from the things you share?
It is a complex question and the film barely scratches the surface. It would help if we knew what exactly was keeping the two together. We don’t learn what they find attractive or compelling about each other. All we see are the clear cracks.
To understand her husband’s decision, Cappellaro researches post-humanism, and interviews its proponents. This wins little credit. She buys Ray Kurzweil’s 2005 The Singularity is Near, an influential text on artificial intelligence and post-human futures Cohen often references. He isn’t keen to discuss its themes, only to disparage her taste for paper books. What’s more, discussions she has with Cohen’s fellow cyborgs are more fruitful and respectful than any with him.
Looking through Cappellaro’s eyes, it is uncertain how responsible each party is for the breakdown in communication. What is clear is that Cohen doesn’t just see his wife’s experience of the world as different from his, but as lesser. He thinks she isn’t ready to embrace her cyborg future – sensing north is like seeing in colour while his wife sees in black and white. She finds this silly, as, I think, will many viewers.
At times, My Husband, the Cyborg feels like being trapped at a dinner party with the most exhausting couple you know. But the longer the experiment runs, the better the film gets. This very modern (and very strange) love story makes for fraught and fascinating viewing.
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