Her - Expression of the Soul

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2014)

A man struggling with connecting to woman as a result of a recent divorce decides to get an Operating System that manages to be self aware, intuitive and lovely. He falls in love with Samantha, as she calls herself. But can a human have a real relationship with an operating system?
I loved being in this world. Jonze creates an incredible world in which he depicts a future that seems not too far away. Bright colours and fashion from our history, such as high waist pants, blends awkwardly well with the advancement of technology showcased here. Not once did I ever think that in our near, or distant future, that we would not achieve what Jonze envisions here.
All of Jonze's films are high concept, Being John Malkovich, Where The Wild Thing Are, etc...you'll see a lot of melancholy. Her fits well with his resume, but comes off as a more mature and held back piece. I was invested in the characters, more so than any other film this year. Hell, Her depicts the most honest and real relationship this year and one of them is nothing but ones and zeros. Both characters here are yearning for something more, Theodore, played by Phoenix yearns for connection. He needs to be with someone, but can't emotionally because he still wants to be with his wife. Samantha, voiced by Scar-Jo, yearns to be more than an operating system. She wants to feel, learn, be alive. This film mirrors what these characters go through, which is self discovery.
The film doesn't look at the technology as our saviour, nor does it look at it as our curse. It's simply part of our lives and the use of this allows us to examine relationships in a slightly new way. We are disconnected from people due to our devices, but we feel more connected with people because of them. The film manages to make the viewer wrestle with the question, what makes us human? Especially with an AI character and having so many people in the film walk around, in a zombie state, connected to their highly advanced devices. All the people Theodore sees in one way or another mirror him. They all have their ear pieces in, connecting with technology.
Phoenix is marvellous here. I'm not a huge fan of him, but I simply loved his performance here. I believed everything he did here and I think it had to do with his eyes. He invokes such sympathy with just his eyes, that Phoenix the actor disappears and Theodore the awkwardly emotionally detached AI lover emerges. He tries to fill his void of loneliness with the technology, as do most of the characters depicted in the film.
Amy Adams shows up as a neighbour to Phoenix and best friend. She's here to showcase to us that he is able to talk to and connect with a human being, he's not necessarily this recluse. This is a nice counter to the technology aspect. There is a brother-sister relationship here, which was crucial for the film. This helps us to see the technology as more of a tool for the characters, than simply a good or bad aspect of our future.
Her is heartfelt, funny and depressing. If your asking yourself, can a human and an OS have sex? Her answers this question, in a unique way that lets us focus on the sound and not the visuals. Her is without a doubt extremely inventive in the way it approached and handled the typical generic genre about romance and relationships. Her is one of the best films of the year and I highly recommend it.