Her (2013)

Her is a love story like you have never seen. It's written and directed by Spike Jonze who is known for his surreal and artsy movies. The movie is led by actors JoaquinPhoenix and Scarlett Johansson. This review has spoilers ahead.

The movie deals with things that unite us and again divide us. The whole movie is set in this technologically advanced society who live in comfort and isolation. Not much talking is going on in this movie because everyone is in a nosedive through their smartphones or computers, much like today's society. The movie follows the story of one Theodore (JoaquinPhoneix) who lived in this society of comfort. He finds true comfort in his work where he can shift is deeply felt emotions to write letters for people whose relationships are better than his own. Better as he is going through a separation from his wife and an impending divorce that he doesn't want. But then he finds new rejuvenation in an operating system and begins to have a relationship with it. Now, this might sound dum if you haven't seen the movie yet. But this is a society studded with amazing technology seen throughout the movie. And operating systems are no exception. They are like supercomputers able to do multiple tasks at the same time while being great companions to their owners. The OSs are constantly evolving like AI. This particular OS, which he calls "Samantha" is voiced by Scarlett Johanson.

When you watch this movie, I want you to focus on the colors used in it. Theodore mostly dresses up in the color red, a color most associated with love and passion while others dress in more muted colors like sky blue. Most of the important scenes in the movie are laced with colors of red. The color of Samantha is red, the first love he found after his separation, and also the couch that Theodore and his wife used to share was red as well.

I interpreted this movie as not only of love but of the sense of purpose that we humans endlessly strive for. This was echoed for me through Samantha as she(or it) was puzzled to find out if the feelings she has for Theodore are programmed or inherently real. And the movie gives us the answer. We, humans, are here to love. Theodore, after his separation, becomes completely passive towards society and lives on for the moments in his work of writing love letters. He seems to find purpose in love and I think that's why he refuses to sign his divorce papers hoping for things to change. And when he finds Samantha he feels like having a purpose again. He smiles, becomes adventurous and has more fun. He just becomes this whole other person. But their relationship is like a distance relationship because there is no actual physical and tangible connection between the two of them. 

In the movie, there is this scene where Samantha and Theodore break up after she confesses to him she was in love with several thousand other people across the globe. The scene was so beautiful that I just can't pass without writing about it. As she confesses to him he sits down on populated subway stairs devastated. But the camera shows no one was remotely interested in the actual thing happening around them. All of them either on their phones or listening in on their earphones. I can't write enough about it, just go see the movie and we'll talk about it.

So in conclusion, the movie simply talks about how the human race is unlearning how to interact with each other in the physical and rather preferring to interact using metaphysical space of anonymity and convenience provided by social media and other platforms. I think the movie also tries to give insight into non-romantic relationships and how important they are. It also looks to finding yourself in being alone because that's what Theodore learns in the end. I enjoyed this movie and recommend you watch it as well.