The Circle (2017 film)

The Circle is a 2017 American techno-thriller directed by James Ponsoldt, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dave Eggers based on Eggers's 2013 novel. The cast includes Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Karen Gillan, Ellar Coltrane, Patton Oswalt, Glenne Headly, and Bill Paxton. The film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2017, and hit theaters two days later through STXfilms and EuropaCorp. Critics largely panned it. It earned $20.5 million in the U.S. and Canada and $20.1 million elsewhere, totaling $40.6 million worldwide on an $18 million production budget. This made it Ponsoldt's most commercially successful film. The release was posthumous for Paxton, who died in February 2017, and it was the last film Headly saw released before her death in June 2017.

The story follows Mae Holland, a call center intern who gets a customer support job at The Circle, a tech and social media company, through her friend Annie. Mae takes the position to help her parents, especially her father, who has multiple sclerosis, while her longtime friend Mercer disapproves. CEO Eamon Bailey unveils SeeChange, a system of tiny cameras that stream real-time video from anywhere. Mae rises within the company by embracing social networking and meets Ty Lafitte, a skeptical employee. At a rally pushing political accountability, COO Tom Stenton introduces Congresswoman Olivia Santos, who agrees to livestream her daily life via SeeChange. Ty shows Mae the cloud server storing all SeeChange data and reveals he created The Circle's social network, TrueYou, which he feels has spiraled beyond his original intent.

Mae's mother shares a photo of a chandelier Mercer made from deer antlers. Mae posts it online, sparking backlash against Mercer, who confronts her and asks to be left alone. Distressed, Mae goes night kayaking, capsizes, and is rescued by the Coast Guard after SeeChange cameras detect her. At a meeting, Eamon praises her rescue, inspiring Mae to become the first "Circler" to go "completely transparent"—wearing a camera that broadcasts her life 24/7. This strains her relationships with her parents and Annie, as Mae accidentally exposes private details about them. At a board meeting, Eamon announces support for voting through Circle accounts, and Mae suggests requiring a Circle account to vote, upsetting Annie.