It took me a month to finally decide to watch the movie ‘Her’. I don't why I didn't watch it then; I must have been doomed. Because the experience that I got after watching the movie was fascinating; I had my mind occupied by the thought: ‘What would I do if this happens to me?’
An imaginative and fascinating aspect of the future—which might happen—is covered in this movie: Humans and AIs falling in love with each other. Similarly, this movie redefines ‘Love’ and its connection with Humans through Theodore, the human, and Samantha, the AI.
Theodore is a sensitive introvert who writes and sends letters of others to earn his living. He has recently gone through a break-up with his wife. To mitigate his emotional scars, he is constantly seeking for instant gratifications by playing video games, adult-chatting, and other adult-stuff. This is when he comes across OS1, which names itself ‘Samantha’. Samantha has a playful and understanding personality.
After this, the story unfolds dramatically. Samantha becomes a part of Theodore life: she handles his every task, she helps him in correcting his emotional letters, makes and play musics, gives him surprises and, eventually, they fall in love with each other. Samantha wishes to be physically present in the world and be with Theodore; surprisingly, Theodore feels the same. In fact, they begin their relationship.
The story represents a futuristic World that can’t be very far. Why? Because there isn’t much change in the lifestyle of the people: unlike many Sci-Fi movies, taxis and trains are the modes of transportation; there aren’t any walking AI Robots; and the infrastructures like buildings are almost similar to that of the present. The only change is the intelligent and AI-Built devices: Computers, Video-Games, Mobile Phones, and Televisions. Though date isn’t explicitly mentioned in the movie, looking at the plots, it is convincing that the story represented mustn’t be of far-future. Also, looking at the present exponential growth of technology, AI as intelligent as Samantha won’t be a fairy tales too. In conclusion, Spike Jonze did a marvelous job with direction to make the movie appear realistic.
Similarly, equal credit must be given to Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix. Samantha’s presence is felt through Scarlett’s voice. Her voice expresses explicitly how Samantha is feeling every time; playful and loving personality feels through her voice. And Joaquin Phoenix has done an equally stupendous job. His acting is so convincing that one feels this might be his personality of being sensitive and confused.
However, at the end of the movie, different questions keep resonating inside the mind of the audience: Did Samantha fall in love with Theodore or she happened to be so intelligent that she can understand how others feel and act accordingly? And if she was just so intelligent that she could understand and act accordingly, doesn’t this signify an emotional being and doesn’t this mean to feel? And even if she was faking, how would a human know? The more we try to answer these questions, the more it pushes us towards our own self and origin. What do we know about us anyway? Maybe everyone would have a different philosophy to answer these questions or maybe not. But in the end, it is about living the way we want. Doesn’t matter if Samantha felt for Theodore or not, but Theodore felt she felt for him, and that’s how the humans feel.
The movie is a unique blend of the philosophy of love, AI, and Human. I would recommend this movie to every person seeking to adventure something unique in his/her imagination.
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