Film Review: Her

Director: Spike Jonze

Released in the last few weeks in the UK meant it was ineligible for any nominations at the recently awarded BAFTA's but its American release date meant it was in contention at the Golden Globes and the Oscars, with most nominations going to Joaquin Phoenix as the lead and Spike Jonze for the screenplay. Although it did create some debate around Scarlett Johansson's performance as the voice of Samantha about whether someone could be nominated for purely lending their voice to a role, it almost created the same debate that Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) has in the film regarding Samantha.

Theodore at the beach with Samantha

Theodore is a lonely man living in Los Angeles and working at a company that writes romantic letters on behalf people to their other halves who either dont have the time or the ability to do so. He's currently in the middle of a divorce to Catherine (Rooney Mara) and has his friend Amy (Amy Adams) trying to set him up on dates. Theodore lives a quiet existence more intrigued with playing computer games and wallowing in his loneliness before he buys a new artificially intelligent operating system called Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) who changes his outlook on life entirely.

"Falling in love is a crazy thing to do, its like a socially acceptable form of insanity" is a powerhouse of a line from Amy Adams when discussing Theodore falling in love with a computer. Is this the next step in the evolution of humans to be able to disconnect from each other as people and have relationships with intelligent pieces of software? This Pygmalion story for the 21st century openly questions the validity of this relationship, Theodore's ex-wife cuttingly criticizes it and stating that he's only chosen this because he can't deal with the hassle of a human relationship.

Theodore on his blind date with Amelia (Olivia "Thirteen" Wilde)

Her opens with some funny moments, the best of which being Theodore's attempts for middle of the night cybersex with another woman who can't sleep which goes tragically wrong, but as it develops it becomes a more straight-laced melodrama. As inevitable in all relationships the honeymoon period ends and with that the laughs are replaced with more serious moments and conversations about what two people want. Theodore's huge desire not to commit after the failure of his marriage is the main stumbling block for him being happy with someone. But the other more subtle question at the heart of this movie is whether he really wants to be happy or whether he prefers living in wallowing self pity?

The supporting cast are actually anonymous for large parts of the film as the focus is solely put on Theodore and Samantha as we share their most intimate moments, although the screen is black for their attempt at cybersex. Joaquin Phoenix has proven in the past that he can carry a movie as the lead and he once again does so here, Scarlett Johansson's husky tones do bring Samantha to life but the film loses its focus and direction through the final act. Spike Jonze appears unsure where to go with the film before the story is wrapped in a slight surprising yet baffling way. Maybe all those old sci-fi movies were correct and the machines will take over but in a slightly less apocalyptic manner.

3.5/4 Thoughtful yet bittersweet journey through one mans loneliness