Her is a special and personal
film from one of America’s finest, and most unheralded filmmakers, Spike Jonze.
The story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) and his lonely journey for love
and acceptance is universal, and by using a subdued science fiction premise –
man falls in love with his A.I. operating system – Jonze reveals that no matter
how much we advance as a society, we will always be seeking connection. The tools
may change, but the needs remain the same.
This theme isn’t all that surprising, though. What is surprising is the
character Jonze creates in Samantha, the operating system that becomes the love
of Theodore’s life. Samantha, as voiced by Scarlett Johansson, is the soul of
every woman. She transcends her character and becomes a symbol of true feminism.
In a lesser writer’s hands, Samantha would merely be a foil for us to better
understand Theodore, like most women in movies. In Jonze’s script, Samantha’s journey
is as real and vital as Theodore’s in every way. A scene, late in the film,
offers a remarkable monologue in which Samantha explains the virtues of not
having a body that reframes our understanding of what it means to be human.
Like the best art, Her stays
with you because it is already inside you. It taps into that part of each of us
yearning for more. This is not just a movie to love, but a movie to embrace and
cherish. Its joy, its passion, its empathy are contagious.
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