Last week, I went to the French premiere of Her, where the director Spike Jonze attended as well. He is one director that I really like and probably one of my favorite human being: a simple man, very relaxed, and extremely nice. If you combine his awesome personality with his brilliant mind, you get some of the most beautiful and original movies you’ll ever see. Her is one of them.
For his fourth full-length film, he associated with another original being, Joaquin Phoenix, to create a Utopia where technology is at its apogee, and computers become more and more like humans. Theodore Twombly is an introverted man, who writes personal love letters for couples having difficulties expressing themselves, and finds himself falling in love with an intelligent operating system called Samantha.
Jonze’s universe is very special, and there is no in between: you either like it or you don’t. However, as someone who usually really like his cinema, Her is left me confused. I liked it, but at the same time I found it clumsy and awkward. The subject in itself is a little bit awkward, even if very original, which quite frankly is refreshing in the sea of biopics and huge actions movies we had this year. Her is poetic, beautiful to watch and offers a good reflection on human interaction and technological advancements.
But some scenes were not completely necessary. The “sex scenes” for example, I get their point, but it was very awkward to watch. The first time between Samantha and Theodore is a breaking point in the story: first, you kind of like the idea of them together, everything goes well, and from that moment, when we enter the second part of the movie, it slowly begins to be just another typical romantic storyline with a peculiar twist.
Nonetheless, it’s very well written, it’s poetic and it’s very Spike Jonze. It reminded me of the universe of I’m Here, one of his shorts (and my favorite) starring Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory. We would witness a love story between two robots in a human world. For the music, he chose the band Arcade Fire to compose the score and it blends beautifully with everything. The cinematography is astonishing and feels pure, it is retro and at the same time futuristic. It just brings a sense of calmness and relaxation. I particularly liked the wardrobe for that film, very colorful and simple, befitting its surroundings… it’s simply perfect.
The acting is very good. Joaquin acts alone most of the time, and even if there are a lot of scenes that are too long and not really interesting, he stays convincing. Theodore is a very frustrating character: he doesn’t really know what he wants and I found myself being angry with him. I was angry about the fact that he’s not making any efforts, that he can’t communicate with the people that are right in front of him etc… But, thinking about it afterward, I was angry because, on certain aspects of this character, I recognized myself.
These days, it’s hard to identify with a character. They mostly are wonderful and special with magical powers or extra intelligence, but Theodore had kind of a boomerang effect on me. It allowed me to bond with a character, even if it was through frustration. As for Scarlett Johansson, it’s another story. She can convey a lot of things through her voice, but I couldn’t sympathize with Samantha, I just didn’t feel anything for her (and I’m still not completely sure why…).
Her showed how technological advancements can be scary: we are becoming more and more addicted to and dependent on technology and with that evolution, we are communicating less and less with each other. It’s becoming a utopia, where everything is square and proper, and you are assisted all the time.
All in all, Her is still a beautiful movie that I greatly appreciated. Jonze proved once again what a great director he is. I don’t think the film will win many Oscars, but I hope it will be the winner in the Best Original Score category.
Rating: 3.5/5
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