Bicentennial Man(1999)

Submitted by Julio M

Oscar Nominee – Best Makeup

POOPER: (Thanks Curt aka The Grand Poopbah)
Andrew (Robin Williams) fulfils his ultimate dream to have every human experience–including death.

Longer version:
In 2068, sixty-three years after being first activated to serve the Martin family, Andrew comes upon a fellow NDR android named Galatea, who reveals her female-like traits were the work of scientist Rupert Burns (Oliver Platt), the son of the original creator of the NDR line. Intrigued by the possibility of enhancing his looks to appear more human-like, Andrew becomes acquainted with Rupert and discovers his vast repertoire of projects and ideas. Having attained a large sum of money, both from being a servant of the Martins for decades and his side business as a clockmaker, he funds Rupert and, in turn, agrees to be his test subject.

Another 20 years later, in 2088, a very human-looking Andrew returns to the Martin household to find Amanda “Litte Miss” (Embeth Davidtz) -the daughter of Rachel (Wendy Crewson) and Richard (Sam Neill), and now mother of Lloyd (Bradley Whitford) and grandmother of Portia (also Embeth Davidtz)- aged and ill. Portia is wary of the presence of Andrew, but eventually embraces him and they become closer. Later on, when Amanda dies, Andrew is concerned that he will seemingly be able to live forever, thus having to suffer the loss of those humans he cares for to old age and death. He and Rupert work together on ideas for synthetic organs that gradually replace his mechanical insides with bodily functions; over an extended period of time, he achieves feeling pain, feeding himself, developing emotions and even being sexually aroused.

Due to this last accomplishment, his strong friendship with Portia evolves into a romance, even though -despite him technically having existed, so far, for over 100 years- he still looks physically younger than Portia due to her humanity. Emboldened by what he and Rupert have so far attained, and already in the 2100s, he addresses the World Congress several times, over the course of the following decades, requesting to be legally acknowledged as a human so he and Portia can marry; he is turned down on the grounds that “civilization is not ready to accept the idea of an immortal, or long-living, human”. Andrew recurs, one last time, to an elderly Rupert, with the request to replace his artificial fluids with a bio-compound that behaves like human blood. Rupert agrees but warns him this will, indeed, cause him to age and eventually die, which Andrew understands, since he is looking forward to growing old with Portia.

In the late 2100s, a visibly aged -and now also frail- Andrew appeals once more to the World Congress, along with Portia, to have his humanity acknowledged, as well as the possibility to be allowed, come the right time, to have a painless death. Then-Congress President Bota (Lynne Thigpen) still declines on ethical and moral grounds, but assures him the Congress will study his request.

Finally, on April 2, 2205, just hours away from turning 200 years old, Andrew, old, on life support and on the brink of death, with Portia by his side in similar conditions, eagerly awaits the televised announcement by President Bota and the World Congress, in which he is to be formally recognized as a human -“the oldest ever, after Methuselah”-, with all related rights in tow, including being married to Portia. Unfortunately, he passes away during the broadcast, but, when a now-human-looking Galatea (Kiersten Warren) relays it to Portia, she smiles and says that he already knew. Portia then asks Galatea to disconnect her life support and she slowly passes away as well, while smiling, holding her beloved husband and longtime companion’s hand, and whispering “see you soon”.