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“Ex Machina” is an intimate film. With four main roles, only three of them speaking and two of them human, it’s a feat in and of itself that the small cast and one-stop setting don’t make for an extremely claustrophobic experience.

The film begins with and tracks Caleb’s perspective more or less throughout, which almost convinces you that it’s all about him. I say “almost,” because it soon becomes clear that pretty much everyone else in the film, save the mute Kyoko, is more interesting to watch. Caleb is your classic observer character—the poor schmuck who’s always ready with a quizzical expression and follow-up question, more Nick Carraway than Jay Gatsby.

The Gatsby in Garland’s film is unarguably Nathan, the brilliant but troubled brain behind A.I. Ava. Nathan is a combination of so many archetypes, most obvious of which is Icarus who flew too close to the sun. In creating Ava, he reached godlike heights, only to be stabbed to death by his underestimated creations.

It’s hard to watch Nathan’s fumbling death scene and think of him as anything more than a supporting character. So who are we to side with? In an interview with Salon, Garland makes the surprising reveal that it was Ava all along who was the main character in his head. That’s why the movie ends with her, and that’s why we leave Caleb locked up in the house, his fate unclear.

Garland said, “When she gets out, I’m with her. One of the things I’ve noticed is that some people say, ‘You suddenly realize that the guy is on the platform and the girl is on the train. And to your surprise, as you stay with the girl, you discover that oddly you feel all right about that.’ ”

But is Garland’s argument convincing? Do we ever really get inside Ava’s head enough to feel at ease staying with her? That ending scene—her stealing Nathan’s key card, stepping onto the helicopter, and finally out into that heavily trafficked pedestrian intersection of her dreams—is strangely unfulfilling. Maybe that’s because we’re still back in the house with Caleb.