The idea of falling in love with Siri’s voice may be laughable, but Spike Jonze’s (Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are) latest feature film, dares to go there. While Her may at first appear to comically tackle the issue of people becoming more and more socially inept, symbolized by an unlikely romance between a human and an operating system, it tactfully encourages you to reassess everything you think about love and relationships.
In a future Earth where computers do most of the work for us, people are walking around with an in-ear device that’s much smarter than our present-day smartphones. Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a well-trimmed-Pringles-mustached writer who has just broken up with his wife (Rooney Mara). Numb from his failed romance, he buys a newly-released operating system OS1, a genius Siri-like technology capable of everything from arranging your mailbox to proofreading. Most importantly, it exhibits human-like qualities. Once Theodore installs the system, a female voice appears, introduces herself as Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), and immediately becomes his new companion and, later, his lover.
Struggling to find a meaningful relationship, Theodore comes to represent the demanding, self-centered nature of humanity. When he finally meets Samantha, who is actually crafted from and by himself, he becomes the willing victim of his own emotions.
Set in a pallid urbanscape, the film uses a future world as a means to question modern romance. Theodore’s falling in love with a non-human being that satisfies his emotional needs sets off many questions. Is love simply having your expectations met, or is there more to it than that? Along his emotional journey, Theodore encounters characters played by Amy Adams, Rooney Mara and Olivia Wilde, who only add to this line of questions. The irony is that OS Samantha is the one to suggest that it’s our flaws and feelings, happy or sad, that make us beautiful.
With the film touching on so many points, there are moments when you feel the storyline bypasses character development for the sake of tackling the big issues. That’s not to take anything away from the natural chemistry between Phoenix and Johansson. So long as you’re ready to delve into the memories it stirs up, Her provides a wonderful platform from which to examine your own feelings and values.
