Our movie begins with Mae, After a day of kayaking, while she returns to her way home,
her car breaks down, and she is forced to stop her car on the street
then she calls Mercer who arrives to fix the car
it seems he a crush on Mae
and every time he wants to ask her for a date
she refuses and apologizes to him
after he fixed the car, Mae tells him that she'll text or email him later
but he says they can talk now
since they are both present, she smiles at this suggestion and heads home
when the family is eating dinner, the mother talks about Mercer, trying to convince her
to go with him on a date, but she refuses to talk about this again
it seems that her father suffers from multiple sclerosis
for this reason, she works in a job to support her parents
the next day, she went to her job as a customer service agent
but seems that she doesn't like her job, and hope to find a new one
meanwhile, Her friend Annie who works in The circle company, tells her that there is an
opportunity to work in her company
which is one of the biggest tech and social media company
she is very happy about the new job, and she tells Mae the interview will be tomorrow
The Circle owns a very large campus, and it becomes apparent, that the company encourages
them to spend a lot of time there
she begins the interview, and although the questions were very difficult
she passed the interview at The Circle
she gets a job in Customer Experience, which is an entry level position, that requires
her to assist users of The company's products
although she wants to get above 90% in her first week in the job score
She feels frustrated to get 84%
but Annie tells her it is a high score, considering it is her first week
At a company-wide meeting, Eamon Bailey who is the manager of the circle, introduces a
new initiative called See Change
The initiative involves small cameras, that can be placed anywhere
See Change will make the world, more transparent
Eamon gives a big speech, about the human rights implications of these cameras
The cameras come in different colors, so camouflaging is a cinch
and they provide real-time video feeds
after the meeting
the company made a wide party for them
and During the party, Annie takes Mae away
to an office where Eamon makes the big decisions for the company, And Annie explains that Mae
actually shouldn't be in the office
After leaving
she sees an employee away from all of the events, glued to his phone
Mae approaches and begins a conversation with him, and he asks her if she is a guppy
Guppy, is a term they use at The Circle for new employees, and she says that she is
They carry on a little conversation, before he gets a message from his phone
and tells Mae that he has to go, his name is Ty, but he doesn't tell her his name
While the family is at home for the weekend, they are at a BBQ with her family, and several
other people
The parent are very proud of her, because she works in the largest tech and social media
company
the mother repeats talking about Mercer, to give him a chance and going a date with him
But she refuses, and doesn't give Mercer any importance
they talk about his business
which is making deer antlers into chandeliers
but the conversation doesn't last long, and she returns to her parents
Back at The Circle, there are two supervisors come to Mae, and ask her about her profile
on The Circle, and why it isn't updated
They noticed that she didn't attend the seminar last weekend
and they asked for the reason
but they are careful not to make anything seem required
trying to get Mae to open up more on her Circle profile, and to become more engaged in the
company
They find out her dad's health condition, and that she enjoys kayaking
After they leave, Mae seems more determined to rise up in The Circle, by fully embracing
all of its social networking tools
Although what happened made her depressed
she is working hard and tries to do her best
At a presentation at The Circle, Tom introduces a political candidate, who is making all of
her communications transparent, and he applauds this, speaking about how transparency brings
accountability
she is in the crowd with Annie, but Ty was in the back of the crowd, and Once the candidate
is done talking, Ty leaves
During another party
Mae sees him glued to his phone again, and she approaches him to begin another conversation
he takes Mae to a restricted area, where she shouldn't be in, telling her that she can't
tell anyone, that he brought her to this area
and he tells her that it's the future of The Circle
He says that the plan, is keeping all information on everyone in this area, not just the political
candidate, that said she would be fully transparent
From his countenance, it is clear that he doesn't like the direction of The Circle
And Mae discovers that, she's been talking to him the whole time
but she is incredibly embarrassed, when she discovered that he is the creator of the True
You, a very popular Circle product
He tells her that his invention, has been morphed into something that he didn't want
And He has a lot of influence over the company, like Eamon and Tom, but he has chosen to remain
in the shadows
later, while speaking to her Mother
she shows Mae a chandelier that Mercer made
but Mae takes a picture of it, sharing it on her Circle profile
in the next day, Mercer gets a lot of hate mails, from people accusing him of murdering
animals
Mercer who lives off the technological grid
comes to The Circle to confront her about what she did
although she tried to tell him, that she never imagine that can happen
Mercer storms off
After this traumatic experience, Mae goes to the kayak shop at night
and she sneaks onto the premises, through a locked fence
She takes a kayak and heads out into the bay, but The waters start to get rough
and she hears a foghorn of an approaching ship
but she can't see where it is, because of the fog and lack of light
The waves eventually flip her kayak over, and struggling to keep above the water, until
the coast guard comes to her rescue
The next day, she is in Eamon and Tom's office, explaining what happened
Eamon explains that See Change cameras caught her breaking into the kayak premises, and
also caught her in the water
and Because of the cameras
Mae was able to be saved, in her moment of desperation
He asks her if there is anything she wants to confess, and she tells them that it's not
the first time she's been in their office
Eamon asks her how it feels after telling the truth, and she says it's liberating, but
they allude to a plan that they have for her
At the next company-wide meeting, Eamon introduces Mae on stage, and talking about her experience
of being rescued
she explains how transparency is good, and states that she will be the first Circler,
who goes completely transparent
This involves wearing a small camera on her shirt
we see Annie in the audience, but she clearly worn out and not looking good
while she is awake and exposing her whole life, to everyone in the world
and Being fully transparent, she becomes a celebrity at The Circle, but it starts to
hurt some of her close relationships
Mae is invited to a high level meeting, but Annie seems to resent it, because someone
of her level at the company isn't usually invited
Eamon talks about support from all 50 states to allow individuals to vote through Circle
accounts
Mae takes one step further
and brings up the idea of requiring every individual to have a Circle account
Eamon and Tom clearly like the suggestion
but it upsets Annie
And she gets vocal about her disagreement, ends up storming out of the board meeting
At the next company meeting
Mae is leading the meeting
and talks about the beauty of transparency, stating that The Circle can find anyone on
the planet, in under 20 minutes
She has the computer randomly select a criminal at large for Circlers to find, The computer
selects a woman who is guilty of killing her three children
but after she was imprisoned, she managed to escape
and before 10 minutes
Circlers around the world have used the See Change cameras
and facial recognition software to find the woman
and have her arrested
Mae talks about how wonderful transparency is
and how it can be a tool for good
she states that this program can be used to find anyone, not just criminals
and she asks the audience who they should search for next, but someone shouts Mercer's
name
She says that she wants to leave him alone, but the crowd gets restless
Mae is trying to dissuade the audience, but Tom tells her that they need to find Mercer
she eventually gives in, and asks if they can break their record of 10 minutes
some people find Mercer in a cabin
they begin harassing him, and asking him why he kills animals
he races to his truck, trying to get away from the people who tracking him
Mae and the rest of the Circlers, are watching Mercer being chased through real time cameras
the drone terrified him
and while he is being chased, he wants to avoid the drone, but he drives his truck off
a bridge, and dies immediately
Mae is horrified, and takes a leave from The Circle
She moves back in with her parents, trying to cope, eventually She calls Annie, who has
left The Circle, and is out of the country, Annie seems to be doing a lot better
and During the call, Annie advises her to quit the circle
especially, after Mercer's death
but she says that they will work on updates, to not make this fault again
Despite pleas from her parents for leaving the company, she decides to return to The
Circle, As she is driving to work, she calls Ty, asking him for help
she meets him in the restricted area, he tells her that he found information more dangerous
than he expected, and that she won't believe what he has found
At the next company-wide meeting, Mae expresses how connection has helped her recover
As she is speaking with Eamon on stage, she invites Tom onto the stage
she talks about transparency and invites both Eamon and Tom to go fully transparent
As she is talking, she tells them how Ty has found all their accounts, even the accounts
that their wives were unaware of, and exposes them in an attempt to become fully transparent,
because no one should be exempt, and she sends their accounts to the public, Eamon and Tom
are clearly upset, but are trying to keep smiling
she states that transparency is good
and she leaves the meeting
It is clear that she believes in transparency, and that no one should be exempt from hiding
their secrets
she returns to her hobby again
with the drones around her, She smiles at the camera, and it shows many other people
in different countries
Is it possible for social media
to destroy social relations between people one day?
let me know in the comments