Doubles, doubles, clones; twin visions have long fascinated directors and audiences. However, it is disturbing when technologies that once belonged to the realm of science fiction are now being realized in the present. A German model named Lale is interested in creating a 3D clone of herself and this documentary by Katharina Pethke taps into a new disturbing reality.
The rationale behind the project sounds promising on the face of it. As the company that provides the body scanning service to Lale explains, a 3D clone can take on a greater number of campaigns, without the hassle of paying a personal crew, thus increasing Lale’s income. What is notable, however, is that the firm’s examples of 3D avatars are all non-white models. With the recent push for more inclusivity in the fashion and modeling industry, could this be an easy way for brands to claim diversity without expanding their talent pool?
It’s a thorny question that Pethke’s documentary seems either uninterested in or ill-equipped to explore, which seems a misstep considering Lale’s Black heritage. Instead, Pethke focuses primarily on the practical aspects of the process. Lale, dressed in nude underwear, is surrounded by a sea of tripods as numerous cameras capture every inch of her body. Her physical features, first rendered in 2D on the computer screen, are flattened and divided into separate parts, like a paper doll.
In a somewhat sappy finale, Lale wanders through a forest, only to come face to face with her clone, further driving home the tension between nature, man and machine. The film may foreground the eerie aesthetics of the process, but its inquiries are frustratingly skin deep.
