Her: Love in the time of isolation

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2014)

The solitude, the search for affection and the need to love and be loved has been a constant for humans over time. At the same time, technology has played a primary role in this quest, although ironically it seems that while all these technological advances are more significant, the man becomes more isolated and self-absorbed.
The premise of the latest film by Spike Jonze revolves around the aforementioned approach with a twist that up to 10 or 20 years ago may have been considered as pure science fiction and now may be close to happening: falling in love with an artificial intelligence. Theodore Wombly works by creating messages and love letters to those who need them; Theodore has trouble overcoming the separation from his wife and he does not feel ready to sign the divorce. One day, he gets the most advanced operating system ever created, which is capable of reasoning as a human and have their own identity. This is how this system calls itself Samantha and starts to become Theodore's company and confident, with who shares endless notions about the world and human beings. Both end up falling in love, to the surprise of Theodore's friends.
It's not surprising that Jonze has taken charge of such a bizarre notion considering his previous films (with gems like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation), but it is not surprising that the result is captivating, and his main success lies to he decides to tell a love story instead of a sci-fi one, and is a wonderful meditation on loneliness, emotional isolation (recurrent issues in his previous films) and even about forgiveness and learn to let go (and this is where Charlie Kaufman's influence on Jonze's style can be felt). Some people have highlighted the similarities between this and Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola (who was actually married to Jonze), and even though both films handle common issues, the focus is what separates and differentiates them from each other.
However, if the relationship between Theodore and Samantha flows and feels natural and believable is largely thanks to the actors who play them. On the one hand we have Joaquin Phoenix, who delivers a very different performance from his usual range, which explores the emotions of a man overwhelmed by the melancholy caused by loneliness and who rediscovers the joy and the ability to love in the least expected way; a nuanced, subtle and heartbreaking work that ranks high among Phoenix's best. And on the other side is Samantha (who was originally played by Samantha Morton), who finds in Scarlett Johansson the perfect voice: a perfect mixture of innocence and sensuality that makes it easy to understand why anyone would fall for her. It would not be far-fetched to believe that in a few years this will join other iconic voice-only performances such as HAL-9000 or Darth Vader. Amy Adams also stands as Theodore's neighbor and best friend and Rooney Mara as his ex-wife.
Likewise, the production values of this film give a special quality: the production design by KK Barrett leads us to a postmodern and futuristic vision (and minimalistic at the same time) of Los Angeles without overshadowing the story development. The dazzling cinematography by Hoyt Van Hoytema that delivers images with a simple but overwhelming beauty and especially the masterful and elegant music created by Arcade Fire becomes the best vehicle for understanding the mood of the main characters, along with The Moon Song co-written by Jonze and Karen O for one of the most emotional scenes in the film.
Thus Jonze delivers a film that he himself has described as his most personal work, and ironically, despite its strange premise is the most touching and human of all.