Equals
In a pristine future that has eliminated emotion, two citizens risk everything to understand the forbidden feelings drawing them together.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- melancholic
- restrained
- contemplative
- quiet evening
- thoughtful date night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film visually striking and supported by its leads, but judged its dystopian romance slow, simplistic, and derivative.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Silas and Nia live under a social system where emotions have been eradicated and any return of feeling is treated as a condition requiring control.
The attraction between Silas and Nia conflicts directly with the rules of their emotion-free society.
The film emphasizes dazzling white spaces, regulated routines, and immaculate production design to depict its controlled future.
Silas and Nia struggle to understand the feelings emerging between them after a society has defined emotion as abnormal.
Films like Equals, and why
The Giver
shares dystopian social control, forbidden romance, and a speculative society that suppresses individual feeling
Never Let Me Go
shares sterile futuristic design, emotional repression, and a romance challenging an engineered social order
The Island
shares science fiction romance, institutional surveillance, and lovers resisting a dehumanizing system
Gattaca
shares cerebral dystopian world-building and intimate rebellion against a society organized around emotional or bodily control
Movie Details
- Director
- Drake Doremus
- Release Date
- 2015-07-15
- Runtime
- 102 min
- Rating
- 6.1 / 10 (1471)
Cast
- Nicholas Hoult
- Kristen Stewart
- Jacki Weaver
- Guy Pearce
- Rebecca Hazlewood
- Scott Lawrence
- Kai Lennox
- Rizwan Manji
- Aurora Perrineau
- Bel Powley
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Bloodstream
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Equals about?
- In a pristine future that has eliminated emotion, two citizens risk everything to understand the forbidden feelings drawing them together.
- What is Equals like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Equals as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Equals violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Equals.
- What did critics think of Equals?
- Critics broadly found the film visually striking and supported by its leads, but judged its dystopian romance slow, simplistic, and derivative.
- Which films are like Equals?
- Films with a similar feel include The Giver, Never Let Me Go, The Island, and Gattaca.
- How long is Equals?
- Equals runs 102 minutes.
- Where can I watch Equals?
- In United States, Equals streams on Bloodstream.
