Her
Love. Love is indescribable. Love can be natural: the affection we feel for our family and friends. Love can be playful, like when you talked with the friendly little boy or girl as a little kid in elementary school and giggled about the silliest of things. Love at it’s most powerful is the unconditional, uncontainable, and unexplainable feelings of warmth and affection we have for someone. When we think of it, we all think of something different. When I hear love, I think of snuggling under a blanket on a cold night with my girlfriend and watching a movie a warm light filling the room. That’s just one of the many things I think of when I think of love. Love can be so many different things, and can stretch beyond a connection between two people. Spike Jonze’s Her takes the idea of love and expresses it in many different forms, allowing it’s viewers to understand what it means to be loved and to love someone.
Right away, we’re introduced to a world not much different from our own. A world in the near future, where our main character Teddy, played by Joaquin Phoenix, works as a writer of heartfelt letters for couples that have difficulty doing them themselves. With the impending separation from the person he believed to be the only one for him, Catherine, he’s slogging through a lonely existence filled with nights avoiding friends, even though he desperately seeks a connection. It’s a palpable and understandable set of circumstances, as heartbreak is an experience most people can connect to in one way or another. You feel for Teddy as he struggles through his daily life, but when he discovers an operating system with artificial intelligence that has the ability to evolve and change depending on the user and the world around it, he decides to give it a try.
Voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Samantha is the voice of Teddy’s AI, and all I can truly say is wow. From the beginning, Sam and Teddy connect based around something as simplistic as his daily spam emails. What makes the character of Sam so fascinating is just how human she feels despite being a computer construct. Their relationship is so exciting and interesting, as Sam is learning about the world as she grows closer with Teddy, and their connection grows stronger by the day. Johannson and Phoenix are absolutely incredible in their parts and the chemistry is just awe-inspiring from the perspective of a viewer. There are moments where you feel uncomfortable watching something that should be a personal moment between these two, and it makes their relationship feel that much more real. Sam is by far one of the best computer characters to grace the silver screen, reaching heights comparable to that of HAL 9000.
Touching subjects like happiness, moving on, the metaphysical, loneliness, technology, and the process of love, Her could have fallen very much flat. But I’m very happy to say that all of these themes feel explored perfectly and intertwined in a way that makes them not something that is shoved into your face, but natural and understandable for the story of the film. A relationship between a human and a computer could seem odd, but Her challenges the notion that the two are different. And when you think about it, are they really all that different at all? What’s to say a future AI like Samantha couldn’t feel human emotion or have its own true thoughts? Are humans more than beings designed to serve a specific purpose? Who would we be to stop two beings that love one another from being who they choose to be? It’s fascinating and yet for some, could be absolutely terrifying. Teddy and Sam both grow from their relationship, discovering parts of themselves that they didn’t know were there, and allowing each other to explore what makes them happy. The beauty of this film’s messaging is impossible to fully explore, and something that needs to be experienced.
I would be remiss if I didn’t spend some time talking about another aspect of this movie that is just so powerful, the color and music. Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett created a selection of pieces that are entrancing and critical to the success of the film. Sam relies heavily on music to convey her emotions and feelings towards Teddy, at one point saying it’s her way of creating pictures (it’s a beautiful piece, listen here). All of the music is romantic, and the heart of each piece is felt through every note. A simply beautiful soundtrack that adds to the narrative of the film. Along with this, there’s something about the use of color in Her that catches the attention of the viewer. Like a mood ring, the color of the film reflects the emotions of our main character Teddy. When Teddy is feeling sad the scenes often reflect tons of blue or darkness, when he’s lonely the scene is often very much grey or pale, and when he’s happy the color truly pops. It’s a nice piece to the puzzle that is absolutely worth mentioning.
Her has allowed me to explore love in ways I didn’t realize I wanted and needed to. It made me think about the nature of love, and why we shouldn’t care who other people love. It allowed me to touch moments in my life that I’d forgotten about and gain an understanding for them in the overall narrative of who I am and how I grew from them. I thought by this point in my life that I had an understanding for what love is, but Her has managed to subvert every belief I had and continues to support the belief that love cannot be explained. Maybe that’s the point Her was trying to make from the beginning? Love has no boundaries, and what’s the point in trying to explain it when we can experience it?
