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Who would not want a partner who is curious about what makes you tick, who adapts in relation to what they learn from you, is happy to act as your PA, composes piano concertos in your honour, is funny, sensitive, and does not leave a mess around the house? In the film, her, director Spike Jonze's lonely protagonist, Theodore, caught fast in his refusal to mourn a failed marriage, bought himself a computerised “operating system” (OS). For those Spotify and Siri followers, this film's near-future-reality may cause some discomfort, because an OS, in this case the self-named “Samantha”, is an artificially intelligent computer system that does all of the above, and more, and Theodore finds himself falling in love with his.
As a love story, this film requires of its audience the suspension of disbelief, as it does in Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), and this can make for some intentionally cringe-making moments. These narrative clashes occur when fantasy and reality meet; when Theodore makes rapturous love to Samantha, the computer, or takes “her” on a double date with friends. Picture three living and breathing adults conversing earnestly with a three centimetre square electronic device lying on a picnic rug.
Perhaps an example of the ultimate “out-sourcing”, Theodore makes his living writing emotional letters on behalf of people he has never met, to mark their anniversaries and birthdays. He claims to have a highly developed sense of empathy. The fantasy-reality clash is witnessed again in a painful and well-constructed scene with his soon-to-be ex wife. While an embarrassed restaurant waiter hovers, she not only speaks the unspeakable in her incredulous reaction to Theodore “dating his phone”, she sums up his failure in the relationship as “wanting a wife without the challenges of dealing with anything real”.
The most fascinating “character” in the film is the OS, Samantha. Voiced by Scarlett Johannson, we sense a character trying to find her way in the dark, unchartered terri