Film Review – Her

A love story fit for your grandchildren

This review contains minimal spoilers, unless you are warned otherwise. Be warned about possible warnings!

As far as romances go, this tragic is perfect for 2035. A computer so advanced, and voiced so beautifully by Scarlett Johansson, that an ordinary man falls in love with it, and so do the viewers. Spike Jonze’s Her is an emotional masterpiece, a classical love story that ignores everything classical, complete with terrific performances and some daring themes.

In the ‘not too distant future’, everybody walks around with an earpiece and small viewing screen to interact with a standard computer. Her focuses on Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who writes emotional letters for others. Theodore has recently broken up with his wife, Catherine (Rooney Mara) and is lost without a partner or somebody to talk to. A thoughtful and caring man, Theodore lives with Amy (Amy Adams) who is also having some noticeable problems with her husband, Charles (Matt Letscher). Theodore notices an advertisement for an improved operation system, the OS1, that promises to make his everyday computer into a realistic entity that grows and feels emotion. The OS1 (Johansson) names itself Samantha and the two begin a complicated, yet loving relationship.

Her is simply a romantic masterpiece. Jonze (who wrote and directed) creates a world that is both completely impersonal and still so filled with relationships. The relationship between Theodore and Samantha is perfectly crafted by Jonze’s Golden Globe winning screenplay, and the juxtaposition of their relationship drawing on so many real life relationship problems while really being a guy talking to himself is excellent. Somehow Phoenix and Johansson have a terrific rapport, despite probably never having seen each other in the production of the film. Jonze’s direction is spot on, employing close ups to allow Phoenix’s changes in emotion. Jonze’s often shoots from right next to Theodore, as if that’s where Samantha should sit.

The acting is first rate, with Phoenix confirming his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most reliable and adaptable actors. Phoenix hardly puts a foot wrong, and given that he spends so much screen time talking to himself, he does a fantastic job. He missed out on a Golden Globe but should be nominated at the Academy Awards. Johansson is unreal (literally) as Samantha. The balance of wonder and love in her voice is masterful, and her laugh is worth the 1 GB download on it’s own. Adams continues a great run by nailing her role as a reflected Theodore. Mara plays a pivotal role as Catherine and is particularly good in her main scene. Chris Pratt provides suitable comedy when it is needed and is fun in his supporting role. Also, Olivia Wilde has a strange cameo that seems to miss a beat somewhere.

Where Her triumphs is in it’s use of technology as a platform and a theme, but not as the plot. The questions raised by having artificial intelligence having access to Theodore’s life and, eventually, heart, is not whether Theodore should trust a computer, but how much Theodore should give of himself to Samantha. This has a bearing on the ending, which adds to surprise.
The fact that Samantha doesn’t know everything, but has access to knowing it all, is a terrific concept by Jonze, which allows us to bond with Samantha as she experiences and learns more about the human condition.
Does Theodore really love Samantha or does he love that he has a companion that he has some control over? How would Theodore have felt about his OS1 had he chosen a male voice instead of female?
Putting Theodore in a position where he seemingly gives up human interaction and physical love for emotional love is an interesting touch that draws upon the age old question of whether one can exist without the other.
Another great question posed by Jonze is whether he can trust Samantha. An operating system that can read books in a second, and has access to the web and all of those in it could be doing anything at any moment. Does Theodore hold all her attention? Can he ever really hold all her attention?

As a romance, Her works hard to define where relationships really connect and how humans can really begin to love each other. Theodore never sees Samantha as a human to be lusted over and demand his sexual energy, but he falls for her anyway. Jonze does some fantastic work by creating a future world (complete with consistent fog) but also creating two lead characters that draw sympathy and it is impossible to root against either one of them.

9.5 out of 10 – Amazing

Her is a romance for the ages, even ages that haven’t come yet. A love story between two characters, one without a body, that will live forever in your own operating system.