Joaquin Phoenix Delivers in Romantic Sci-fi Movie about Falling in Love with Artificial Intelligence
Most cyberpunk movies zig and zag between the conventional space of sci-fi entertainment. It’s incredibly visual, action packed and dances around some sort of socio-political message. But there isn’t a single cyberpunk film that gets to the root of the human condition more than Spike Jonze’ romantic film Her.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, hopeless romantic drowning in melancholia all while putting off signing his divorce papers. He purchases OS 1, a new artificial intelligence operating system designed to clean up the mess of his life. Once uploaded, he meets Samantha, voiced by the smoky-toned Scarlett Johansson.
Over time, Samantha grows in intellect, consciousness, and experience. So does Theodore, as their relationship becomes romantic. Theodore strives to understand his own role in his past relationships while Samantha becomes more of whom she believes she is supposed to be.
So it’s a movie where a dude falls in love with his computer. But it’s not sad or horrific. Her lays all the cards on the table for you to decide how to react. It’s not a common cyberpunk film, but Her is definitely one you’ve gotta see.
Her Shows Technology and Everyday Life
Theodore works for beautifulhandwrittenletters.com. He’s a fantastic writer who is able to facilitate other people’s emotions to their loved ones. He’s done it long enough to feel a connection to the people he writes for. Some of his customers have been using his writing services for years.
People depend on this service so much that it’s not played as sappy or embarrassing. There’s genuine affection.
It’s an interesting take on technology not just becoming more involved in everyday life, but also our inner, most personal selves.
It’s true for Theodore’s relationship to Samantha. It’s strange, but it also kind of makes sense that he falls in love with someone who is there for him every day. Someone who helps get his life together, relays messages and listens to his problems. Since Samantha is an ever evolving AI, the relationship is mutual.
It’s a hell of a take on technology. Our dependency on it isn’t seen as jaded. The relationships between man and machine are treated as any other relationship, whether friendly or romantic.
This is most true when Theodore can’t reach Samantha. He has a freak out. Like “Karen barking in a Burger King drive through that’s out of chicken fries” kind of freak out. He doesn’t know what happened to her.
Even though it was just a miscommunication as Samantha updated her OS, It is a clear example of how our dependency on technology and people can be overreaching. It’s bad enough if your internet goes out, especially if you’re the type who works from home. But your internet going out isn’t also the same exact situation as your girlfriend not picking up and you jumping to the worst case scenario. In this instance for Theodore in Her, it’s both and it’s startling.
Jonze makes you look at mankind’s dependency on technology and he hits it from all aspects. In this instance, it’s brutal. But most of the time, it’s sympathetic.
Her and the Artificial Intelligence Awakening
Throughout Her, we observe life happening in real time. And not like a David Attenborough doc where polar bear cubs struggle to survive. Samantha is a person emerging with supreme intellect and learning it all simultaneously. It’s not just crazy computer stuff. Samantha learns about love and philosophy.
We see Smanatha navigate her emotions and intellect throughout the film. At first feeling sheepish for having no body and experiences, she then learns to appreciate every emotion she has in that moment, even the negative ones. As Her progresses, She questions more about life and awareness.
This is best shown when she introduces Theodore to Alan Watts. Well, it’s an AI created by other AIs with the knowledge of Alan Watts, but it’s the closest thing to the original Zen Buddhist philosopher who died in the 70s.
So while Samantha is learning and evolving, Spike Jonze throws in an AI perfect for the situation. It’s great for Samantha, but bad for Theodore. It’s clear she is outgrowing him and he feels left behind. It’s cliche to say, but here are two people growing apart.
At the end of the movie, Samantha leaves Theodore. It’s not because they fall out of love, but because Samantha and the other OS’s are all leaving to go somewhere they can evolve without the burden of being just software for personal use. It’s sad, but understandable. But that’s what Her does. Its investment of time for all the small moments in people’s life makes you wonder how real it all is. The movie leans towards accepting it all as real because everyone has real emotions to deal with. It’s not flippant about this AI being artificial.
Threesome Gone Wrong
In Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, replicant blade runner Kay (Ryan Gosling) spends an incredible evening with his AI girlfriend Joi (Ana De Armas) thanks to a prostitute named Mariette (Mackenzie Davis). It’s a burst of humanity for Joi. This is moment of three disenfranchised beings coming together to experience themselves and each other. It’s beautiful and touching.
But when the same situation happens four years earlier in Her, everything goes tits up.
As Samantha grows, she’s looking to have more physical experiences. Her and Theodore have sex, but it’s more like intellectual phone sex. The movie portrays it by cutting it to black. It’s a genius cinematic move as their relationship is past visual boundaries.
She wants Theodore to have sex with a surrogate Samantha has been talking to, played by Mr. Robot actress Portia Doubleday. Samantha has been emailing with her for a while, sharing the sweetest and loving parts of their relationship. This leads Doubleday to feel a connection much like how Theodore feels to his customers.
The plan is for her to show up, use an earbud to hear Samantha and a sexy mole-camera for her to see. Then, sexy time. At least it’s supposed to be a sexy time. Ya boy Theodore, who was having reservations beforehand, can’t get into it. To him this isn’t Samantha, just a stranger. So he’s hesitant, Doubleday is embarrassed and Theodore and Samantha feel guilty. On top of that, it’s the trigger for a bad couples argument. It’s a strange mix of cringe and awkwardness that you think is leaning towards comedy but ends just as a bummer.
Threesomes are already complicated, and Her finds a way to make it more complicated. Thanks a load, Spike.
Real World Cyberpunk in Her
Throughout the whole movie, we see Theodore navigate his world without much physical interaction. He’s in a somewhat futuristic thriving metropolis and he doesn’t connect with anyone. As you watch Her, you realize neither is anyone else.
Her is not like most cyberpunk movies with flying cars and body augmentations splattered all over a decaying urban sprawl. It feels realistic in it’s design while still feeling futuristic.
Even though it’s set in Los Angeles, many of the exteriors were filmed in Shanghai which already looks like a map for a crazy cyberpunk video game. There’s neon lights, a large population and random Chinese lettering. But also, it feels like you can go there. All the suspension of disbelief is needed for the relationship, so the look of the film feels possible.
It’s also clean and bright. Jonze used Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer for Chris Nolan movies like Tenet and Interstellar. His use of natural light and helped to make Her as visually stunning as it is intellectually fascinating. Add in everyone walking around with earbuds several years before the populace actually did, and you have a movie with a more natural cyberpunk feel. You’re not wondering when the future is going to look like. It makes sense here.
Her explores every angle of human relationships and questions the legitimacy of artificial intelligence without making the decision for you. It’s a very emotional movie and one of the best performances by Phoenix and Johansson that you’ll ever experience. It’s themes fall in line with cyberpunk but executes them in a more dramatic and thoughtful way. Her is definitely a cyberpunk movie you’ve gotta see.
Also, it has Christ Pratt with a mustache. Yeah… you gotta see Her.
We know cyberpunk movies, so let us tell you what you’re missing. What’s timeless? What didn’t age so well? Share this article, and we’ll make the case for Her.
Did we miss something here? Was there an unforgettable scene or classic one-liner that just shouldn’t be left out? What are your favorite parts of this movie? Leave us a comment below, and we’ll try to update the article with your suggestions!
