"Her" as a metaphor for the complexity of the romantic relations

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2014)

21st century is the epoch of the information, but is it the century in which we are going to distance ourselves from each other?
The science fiction romantic drama shows us a fictional world and characters which make us think about the state of the modern human relationships. This gentle story about the introvert and lonely Theodore and his romantic relationship with the Operating system "Samantha" is a beautiful expression of love, intimacy and the еvanescence of love and what remains after it is lost to time.
We enter this hardly futuristic world with the help of the letters which the main character is writing at his work. The words in them radiate warmth and affection, care and compassion. All these feelings embrace the viewer and take him to the most intimate parts of the human soul. Joaquin Phoenix is marvelous in his play. Every detail of the process of falling in love is depicted so vividly and carefully that we feel the ups and downs of the heartbeat of the main character. The OS is only a voice, but is played perfectly – it builds up an almost real female personality.
Then we witness the development of the romantic relationship until it ends just like those in real life. We are engulfed in the emotional turbulence of Theodore. We see his transition into emotional adulthood. His acceptance of the partition with his former girlfriend is a natural conclusion to the story of this film.
Here I'd like to express my happiness and gratitude for the choice of filming locations and music – they both feel ambient and natural. I liked the way the director shows us one very possible future which actually is already in development (I am looking at you, "Google").
But what can we learn about the human relationships from this movie? Are we all going to alienate from each other? Are we always going to prefer the romantic past instead of a more mature future? Do we really confide in our egoistic point of view about love and how it develops into loneliness or are we ready to accept the transience of human affection? Can we evolve emotionally or not?
It's not so easy to move on, because we feel primordial fear of being alone. It's natural to feel appreciated and to look for a small measure of peace in love. That same love that causes the greatest distress and still fills our lungs with life. I must say – we are constantly part of this roller coaster namely because of our feeling of insignificance. And since it comes from our fear of being forgotten we can only overcome it by creating memories of ourselves into others' minds. Indeed love is the best way to record memories of appreciation about us which can live long after we're gone.
This is a delicate story about the human soul