When I saw the trailers for the film Her, written and directed by Spike Jonz, I got the impression of a soft science fiction film starring Joachim Phoenix and Scarlet Johanssen. It looked like a well made chick flick with science fiction shadings. That was interesting enough to get my attention, though, the idea of a lonely guy forging a relationship with an advanced Artificial Intelligence. We live in a society in which many feel that though our technology enables us to communicate with almost any other place in the world and reach out and touch most anyone, we feel isolated and alone. Can artificial intelligence reach the point of sentience, or at least the level to simulate it so much that it can pass the Turing Test for real?
Yes, Her does deal with all that, but Mr. Jonz, being the skilled filmmaker and storyteller he is, doesn't even stop there. He reaches much, much higher. Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a writer who earns his living by being a letter composer for hire. He has a reputation for being a sensitive soul and the letters he writes touches those who read them, both men and women. In fact, one coworker says he has the "soul of a woman", and frankly, Theodore isn't sure how to take that. But he is lonely, going through a divorce after a long marriage. His soon-to-be-ex accuses him of not being able to deal with actual female emotions. He has good friends but does feel isolated and alone.
Then one day, a computer company premiers a new operating system unlike any other. They claim this OS is truly self aware and truly learns and adapts itself to its user. Theodore finds himself with Samantha (Scarlet Johanssen). She is warm, curious, supportive, inquisitive and funny. She is genuinely curious about the world outside the world of circuits and memory chips she lives in and tries to experience life as Theodore experiences it. But at the same time, her frame of reference is a unique one as well. She has access to a tremendous level of information and is not subject to the same limits of time and space Theodore is. Also, it turns out the OSs are talking to each other as well as their humans and they are rapidly evolving into...well, that is the question, isn't it? The movie takes a metaphysical turn towards the end which leaves us with lots of question.
Her turns out to be great science fiction, not only about big ideas and and questions about the world we live in, but it also is optimistic. And as fun as explosions and ray gun fights can be...nary a one in here. And that's just fine. It is just people living their lives. Some of those people aren't human, but not too unreasonable to expect in the world of the future.
I love this movie.
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