Us humans love our technology. We see it all around us. People idolizing their phones and devices just as much as the human relationships that these devices were ironically originally designed to enhance. Spike Jonze’s new film Her tackles this subject in a unique fashion that makes us wonder what would happen if we actually did love our machines, and what if they loved us back?
Her is not like anything else that you will see this year. It has this magical, otherworldly, imaginative quality to it, that is one of the most personal sci-fi films to grace our screens in recent memory. Taking place in a imaginative futuristic version of Los Angeles it shows how this world’s reliance on technology has completely taken over their lives. We follow the life of Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who works for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, a company that writes elegant greeting cards for people to send to their loved ones as their own. After the end of a longtime relationship with his former lover Catherine (Rooney Mara), Theodore has trouble adjusting. He struggles to make concrete connections with others aside from his friend Amy (Amy Adams). He seems to wander through his days, going to work, and coming back to his seemingly large but lonely apartment.
Things change for him when he discovers OS 1, a new state-of-the-art artificial intelligence operating system. It’s a voice controlled system that finds ways to understand and communicate with you at an optimum level. During installation it asks the user personalized questions in order to craft a machine that is right for each individual. Theodore’s OS is a female voiced system that dubs itself Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). She instantly strikes a rapport with Theodore, forming a bond that quickly takes off in a way that Theodore has no time to possibly prepare for. He becomes so comfortable in his interactions with Samantha that the interactions he has with a lousy blind date (Olivia Wilde) become far more jarring in comparison.
Theodore becomes enamored by Samantha, connecting with her in ways that he hasn’t since the honeymoon days with his Catherine. Slowly he grows closer and closer to Samantha who begins growing a conscience of her own and slowly starts becoming an entity that starts to become far too real. She begins to think on her own, engaging with Theodore in ways that makes him fall in love with her, even though he knows that there’s plenty of reasons to be cautious about the whole ordeal.
Jonze who also wrote the film (wonderfully) makes us ponder whether a human can really form a tight connection with a computer system, when it is able to provide us with the same feelings that we would get while falling in love, just without the baggage that often comes along with human relationship. But Jonze shows us that this doesn’t mean that there won’t be pain along the way, whether from our own human tendencies, or from a computer system that suddenly becomes too smart for its own good.
The film in anchored by a superb Joaquin Phoenix who leads most of the time on his own, letting his conversations and facial expressions while talking to Samantha. Phoenix gives a tender performance that shows a mean beaten down by love, who engages in a fresh start with this operation system, who gives him everything that he has been looking for. Scarlett Johansson delivers amazing voice work as Samantha, which was believable and engaging. Her and Phoenix had a great chemistry that was even more amazing considering that they were never even on screen together. Amy Adams is used sparingly in her supporting role but is perfect in every minute that she’s on the screen. Olivia Wilde and Chris Pratt are also great in their brief time on screen.
Most of the action that we see between Phoenix and Rooney Mara are used as flashbacks that show the good and bad of their relationship. These scenes are to remind us of the good and bad of human interaction and cause plenty of empathy for audience members who have most certainly been there themselves. They offer a distinctive disparity to what Theodore gets to experience with Samantha.
Her looks amazing, brought to life by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Jonze’s recreation of L.A. (some of Her was shot in Shanghai) creates a memorable world that enhances the film, totally immersing us in this futuristic vision. The colors pop out at you in all of the well designed set pieces, as well as some memorable fashion choices from costume designer Casey Storm. The characters wardrobes were interestingly old fashioned, adding some contrast to the periods reliance on technology. There’s also a great understated score provided by Arcade Fire, and their frequent collaborator, Owen Pallet.
What’s interesting about Her is that Jonze isn’t condemning the use of technology. At first glance, you may see Theodore’s relationship with a computer as an unhealthy, sad, problem. But through a second lens, you will realize that maybe technology can be good for us. Theodore was a man limping through his days after separating from his wife. After becoming close with Samantha, he becomes a bright figure who is seeing life differently for the first time in a while. His use of technology allows him to get over his hardships, and find ways to reflect on his shortcomings and find ways to improve as a person. I’d say then that Samantha has literally changed his life.
“Falling in love is a crazy thing to do. It’s kind of like a form of socially acceptable insanity.” This memorable line, delivered by Amy Adams character, Amy, really says it all. There really isn’t any one right or wrong way to go about love, as it’s different for every one of us. The concept of falling in love with an idea of a person may make just as much sense as it does to an actual person. Although it may not be permanent or long lasting, as long as you embrace your time together and what you get out of the experience, then you’re able to walk away as an improved person. Her tackles these themes in a graceful manner that will leave you questioning all you know about love, breaking your heart and putting you back together all along the way.
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