Review: ‘Her’

“Her” is one of the most complete and satisfying movies released in theaters in this country in who knows how long. Equal parts rom-com and relationship drama, with a little futuristic sci-fi thrown in for good measure, this is a very emotional movie about relationships and how they evolve, whether they include romantic entanglements or not, and for good measure, it is also a movie about how humans relate to each other in the face of ever-changing technology. And it’s all done in a very sweet, melancholy, smart and funny way, which pretty much makes this whole movie a revelation, as one of the more thrilling things in this world is when a beautifully realized artwork like this is unveiled in all of its beauty.

“Her” is set in an unspecific not-too-distant future, one that is very recognizable to us but also features technological advancements that we can easily imagine. When the movie starts we are with our lead character Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), whose unfortunate moniker is pretty much the worse thing about this whole film, and he is in the midst of his job, which is to write beautiful handwritten letters (of course not really handwritten but faked to appear handwritten) on behalf of paying customers, which means he has to pour all of these heavy emotions, whether they be love, or grief, or regret or whatever, out of himself and into these letters for people whom he has never met and really doesn’t know. He then leaves his job and heads to home, where is super lonely and loves to listening to sad music to match his mood, as his world is falling apart around him due to the dissolution of his marriage to his wife (Rooney Mara). And in case we don’t get that he misses her and he is lonely, we get to see him lay in bed thinking of idyllic flashbacks of his soon to be ex-wife, whom he is very hesitant to officially let go.

Enter Samantha (the voice of Scarlett Johansson), an artificially intelligent operating system that Theodore buys and installs on his home computer, and this operating system (“OS”) helps him organize his emails and figure out his schedule and just help organize his life in general, but it does all of these things with a friendly voice and what seems to be a full-on personality. Even though Samantha admits that she is the product of millions of programmers, it is quickly evident that she has thoughts and ideas and even makes decisions like which name she would like to give herself and which of Theodore’s past articles are worth saving based on their quality, which means Samantha, right out of the box so to speak, already has some semblance of “taste” and can make decisions based on personal preferences.

And then Theodore and Samantha are off on the journey of their relationship, which starts awkwardly thanks to the unique nature of how they met (what with Theodore actually BUYING and then INSTALLING Samantha, not something usually done with other PEOPLE), but slowly grows into something that starts as a professional working relationship, which then breaks down into an actual friendship, which then gives way to a romantic one. And yes the wonder of “Her” is how this evolving relationship seems so damn plausible. Due to the nature of Samantha’s programming, she is all about Theodore and works hard to make his life easier and better and even when she hears distress in his voice, she will ask how he is feeling and will provide comfort and advice, giving Theodore what he needs at every step of the way. On top of this, her curious and inquisitive nature has her yearning to learn more about life and the world and about Theodore and people in general, which makes her very upbeat and happy about the world around her, which easily wears off on Theodore, who gets to see the world around him through new eyes.

So of course with her being so in tuned to his needs and providing so much more to his life, Theodore starts to appreciate her more and more, and slowly yet surely Theodore realizes that everything he ever wanted from a relationship is being provided by Samantha. And for a little while, this is great for him. They go out together, they make each other laugh and think and he starts to enjoy life more. When the movie started, Theodore was sleepwalking through life, completely gut punched by his childhood friend and the love of his life leaving him and wanting a divorce, and Samantha helps bring him out of his socially-inept and awkward shell. Theodore has withdrawn from people and humanity, seeking solace in electronic devices, but then Samantha comes along and awakens him and helps him to relate more to people around him again, helping him to move past the hurt of the divorce and to embrace life again, and of course there is great irony in this transformation coming from a non-human entity.

Then things really start getting complicated. Because there is no way Theodore should have expected Samantha to stay the same. She is a piece of software, with artificial intelligence that seems to gain more knowledge, and Samantha as an OS evolves herself, and this leads to relationship problems with herself and Theodore. Enter emotions like jealousy and doubt and suddenly Theodore’s relationship with Samantha seems like any normal relationship, and this actually blurs the line even more. Because when a character calls out Theodore for having a relationship with a non-human thing and claims that he is too scared to deal with “real” human emotions and interactions, we have to wonder whether this person is right or not. Is Theodore running away from people and humans? Because even though Samantha does not have a human body, she has a personality and it is possible to confuse her and to hurt her feelings and to make her feel regret and doubt about what she is doing and her own existence and her wants and desires. She may have started out as a program, but she quickly became more than that, didn’t she? Is it fair to say he is avoiding emotions and human interactions when he is having these experiences with Samantha anyway? He may not be able to touch her physically, but they certainly touch each other emotionally, and isn’t that enough?

Even Samantha and Theodore question whether this is enough, as Samantha even finds a sex surrogate for them, a person who would fulfill the physical role that Samantha wishes she could do and actually has to convince Theodore to give it a try, and with this sex surrogate, we get yet another layer to this story, as we are briefly introduced to a character (Portia Doubleday) who wants to be this sex surrogate without a fee or payment, which means she wants to be a part of someone else’s relationship without actually having to commit, or whatever reason she has herself for feeling like she can’t obtain that level of love and intimacy with a person on her own, and even this little side tangent is fascinating because it shows the further evolution of society as a whole to these new OS programs as this new technology becomes accepted and then woven into the fabric of society.

And this last part here is actually pretty important, because “Her” shows what happens not only when a single person gets this technology and gives it a whirl, but also how the rest of the world adapting the same technology affects us all and how we react to such advancements. When Theodore starts to doubt his own sanity and whether or not he is embracing life or running away from it, he finds out about other people having different types of relationship with their own OS programs, which helps him to realize that his relationship with Samantha is indeed unique and special, which helps him to accept it more because he feels the rest of society is more acceptable of such a relationship. But then this keeps going, and it seems after awhile that Theodore becomes the only person aware of how everyone is walking around by themselves, talking and relating to their own personal OS systems, people adrift in a sea of bodies and still finding themselves alone.

Just like in real life, Theodore and Samantha’s relationship gets complicated. They are both changing, Samantha obviously much faster than Theodore, and as they change the parameters of their relationship start to change, to the point where Theodore has to wonder how special their love is and whether or not they can continue to be together and can continue fulfilling each other’s existences. Just like any relationship, it is entirely possible for one person to depend on the other more, causing an imbalance, which can harm the relationship. And we have to wonder throughout this movie what would happen to Theodore without Samantha? First we can imagine that if she never came into his life to begin with, he probably would have become a total recluse and who knows may be even suicidal after all. But now we see how much she changed him, and we see that he has actually fallen in love with her, but can he take more heartache, if that’s in the works? Will this relationship, though started on artificial intelligence, evolve into something real, and if it does, can it also have real consequences?

There are even more things about this movie that we have not touched on here, like Theodore’s few actual human relationships, or how the movie itself is made, i.e. the lush cinematography, the brilliant production design, the out of this world good acting on display by everyone involved, the evocative, lovely and haunting soundtrack, but at this point, all of this simply adds up to a beautiful movie, one that everyone should go see and just fall in love with, because while “Her” may be just another movie about relationships, it is still unlike any other movie you have seen in a damn long time. It is the type of movie that can make you look at the world differently, it can make you look at yourself differently, it can change you if you let it, and even though “Her” isn’t a person, you can fall in love with it, and it can make you better for it.