Music is collaborative. Ana Klimova (Alma Jodorowsky) is aware of this aspect of the art form as she asks around for certain favors. One of these favors include asking someone to fix the music making machines. They were is in the apartment she’s crashing in because her friend left them there. After all, she needs those machines if she wants to compose music for a commercial and to make a demo for a producer. She has visions for the art form, but the men around her show their surprise that she even has access to such equipment. This is basically the struggle of all women in all industries.

The Shock of the Future mostly takes place in Ana’s apartment, where she works and where men break her solitude. One of her gentleman callers is Jean-Mi (Philippe Rebbot). He’s the man who gave her the commercial job and wants his money back because he didn’t like the music she came up with. He imposes himself on her, sitting on her furniture, not seeing the value in the equipment she uses to make music. This drives the point across that women aren’t even safe in their own homes. Even in private spaces, polarities form between gender, as well as the generations and ideas they represent.

The Shock of the Future places Ana’s dynamic with Jean-Mi in opposition to Clara (Clara Luciani). She’s a singer-songwriter who, had the plans turned out the way they did, would have written the jingle for the commercial. Instead, they work on her song, a friendlier collaboration than the one she had with Jean-Mi. This is great and everything, but their post-recording kumbaya feels a bit like patchwork. Another irony here is that Ana and Clara have to represent their genders while there’s a bigger sample size of men. It doesn’t help that the song they’re working on has lyrics that go against Ana’s forward thinking ethos.

Another thing that threw me off here is that she leaves a friend to talk to a music producer, Dominic Giroux. He treats her like a gentleman before basically rejecting her. After that rejection, that friend gives her a pep talk, making me question a few things about the script. As I write that, I’d like to believe that I’m not that petty. I would give someone a pep talk after a third party rejects them professionally. The script has its flaws, but it, for the most part, makes Ana’s struggle as an artist relatable. There’s also a warmth here that I would like to see in more films.

Catch The Shock of the Future from Films We Like’s virtual cinema.