It's exactly because of the "weirding" that happens with the very visually precise and gratifyingly low-fuss vision of the near future that the film is able to make these well-worn tropes seem bright and new, and to tap into emotional currents that a more traditional setting would have to sacrifice due to overfamiliarity.Īnd it is an immensely well-built world at that, with Jonze, costume designer Casey Storm, and production designer K.K. The results feel fresher than they perhaps are: if Samantha was a human woman from a different class or race, and the film took place in a real time period, Her would require very little re-writing, and would undoubtedly feel like a boring parade of trite observations. Spike Jonze - earning his first writing credit for a film he also directed - has found a way to rejuvenate the miserably overworked post-divorce love romantic dramedy by abstracting it, and by explicitly making it about very modern ways of being in love instead of aiming for something universal and timeless. Thankfully, outside of this (to my mind) wholly unacceptable finale, Her mostly hits the most exquisite sweet spot between exploring its concept and using its concept for emotional resonance. Inevitably, this involves some conclusions that really don't feel like they follow naturally, and the final moments try, hard, to shift back to symbolism in a way that the film can't, at that point, earn back. Good breeding forbids me from revealing the details of what happens, but suffice it to say that, having spent the opening act of the film wondering all sorts of practical questions about what life in a world with intelligent operating systems in every home would look like, and then having concluded that since the film is working at a more abstracted, fabulistic level, it doesn't need that kind of sustained story logic, it's shocking and upsetting when, in the final lap, the film decides that, what the hell, it's going to go right ahead and explore the very plausible and realistic ramifications of a scenario which has actively and purposefully shunned plausibility and realism. And then along comes the final 20 minutes, making it all literal. In the grand tradition of sci-fi, Her is clearly about the time it was made, not the time it takes place, and the fact that so damn much of the film can be so gallingly contrived if you take it seriously - the handwritten note website is probably the most clear-cut "love it or hate it" point on this front - only further encourages us to think of it as a feature-length metaphor. Do you get it? Her will take its time establishing and lingering over this in case you don't get it. He's too brittle to feel his own feelings, but he's the best in the business at faking other people's feelings, so they don't have to feel them. In case you missed the bit where this is a metaphor for the detached, dehumanised relationships that people form over things like social media, where people strike up real, deep, meaningful connections with people they only know as a voice or even just text, Theodore's job is writing richly emotional letters for people too busy to do it themselves. The AI that is installed on his home computer, a female voice naming itself Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), begins to evolve and learn, just the way it's supposed to, and then to develop a personality and will, just the way it's supposed to, and then it - she - Her - and Theodore fall in love. Sometime in the future in Los Angeles, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), in the last stages of a divorce, invests in one of the new OS1 programs that use the world's first artificially intelligent operating system.
#Her spike jonze final letter movie
The second time, though is a different story, because that's when the film enters its last phase, and the last phase of the movie is really darn ill-advised.īasically, Her is a fable, of life and relationships in a heavily computerised world. But still, maybe don't structure a scene that way if there's 40 minutes of movie left. And twice, more movie happens - which is good the first time, since it would have left a dismally unfulfilled movie in its wake. That is to say, three times the editing and the blocking are cue us for a cut to black as the lovely Arcade Fire score plays out in its tentative, romantic, melancholy way. But there is a flaw so obvious and basic that I'm puzzled nobody seems to have brought it up yet, which is that the film ends three times. There is much to love in Her, and there is a little bit to be hugely frustrated by, though on the whole the concept and world-building is beguiling enough that getting through the rough patches en route to the terrific stuff is no real chore.
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