A researcher finds herself serving as an unenthusiastic participant in someone else’s study in “I’m Your Man.” A sci-fi rom-com from Emmy-winning “Unorthodox” helmer Maria Schrader, the pic tells the story of Alma (Maren Eggert), an archeologist working in a Berlin Museum who is bribed to take part in study that will see her living with Tom (Dan Stevens), a robot tailor-made to suit her tastes. Alma couldn’t be less interested in meeting her so-called “dream partner.” The only reason she agrees to the arrangement is because she’s promised funding for her own project.

I’d never seen Maren Eggert on-screen before, but it didn’t take long to realize she was perfectly cast as a cynical academic with carefully constructed walls intended to keep others out. You can feel Alma’s humiliation — and resentment — about being roped into the arrangement, an arrangement that she’s only eligible for because, unlike all of her colleagues, she’s single. But she’s insistent that she’s not looking for love, and certainly not with an AI. Gradually, and with great reluctance, Alma forms a connection with Tom, despite her misgivings. Eggert plays Alma’s sharpness and softness perfectly, her initial discomfort with having Tom around and all of the awkwardness that cohabitating with him brings, and her eventual warming up to him and the company he provides.

While it grapples with themes of loneliness, technology, and humanity, “I’m Your Man” never feels particularly heavy, largely thanks to its laugh-out-loud moments and Schrader’s subtle touch.

“I’m Your Man” is now in theaters. It’s been chosen to represent Germany in the International Feature Film category at the Oscars.