Relationship Manager
Film: Her
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams
Directed by: Spike Jonze
Duration: 2 hrs
Rating: * * * *
For millions of years,
mankind lived just like the animals.
Then something happened which unleashed
the power of our imagination.
We learned to talk and we learned to listen –
Stephen Hawking
However ludicrous it may sound, imagine falling in love with
a computer operating system who talks and reacts just like a human being.
Relationships between man and machine or inanimate objects have been explored
before but not to this degree. You can trust director Spike Jonze to deliver
something extraordinary.
Can machines become a substitute for humans even when it
comes to love affection and relationships? After all, love makes us feel good
about ourselves and who we are, perhaps it doesn’t matter whether it is a
person at the other end or, just a voice that acts like one.
Set in an unspecified but not so distant future we have
Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who writes letters as a profession. All he has to do is sit dictate and voila-
the computer will produce a hand written letter. His skill of course lies in
dictating the right words and feelings.
Theodore himself is a rather lonely man who is in the
process of separating from his wife (Rooney Mara). His only friends are his neighbors in the building, Amy
(Amy Adams) and her partner Charles. Life changes when he installs a new operating
system who can talk (voice of Scarlett Johansson) and interact with him. Apart from being a ‘personal assistant’,
Samantha as she christens herself, can talk about everything under the sun, including her
feelings. Considering that his interaction with the female species has had
limited success, he falls in love with Samantha. Moreover, the feeling is
mutual.
As it happens in the first phase of any relationship, they
both help each other grow, although his contribution is more on that
count. At least, that is what she
acknowledges. Even though Samantha is just a voice and doesn’t exist in flesh
and blood, everything else about her is as real as it can get. At one stage,
she even comes up with idea of using a ‘substitute’ as a go-between.
Jonze narrates it in a remarkable way – when Theodore goes
out on a blind date and after a bit of necking when he refutes her advances,
she says “You’re one creepy dude.”
But the story is set in a time when Theodore is not the only
one in a relationship with an O/S, there are many others. And as it happens
with relationships there is the burden of expectation and other notions
including elements of jealousy. Jonze
doesn’t pass judgment on his characters either, there is no right or wrong.
That is how all relationships work, that is the nature of mankind – happy
endings are largely restricted to fairy tales.
The music score, the cinematography the production design
and even the retro costume (he wears red and yellow shirts and unconventional
trousers, and they look good) add to the mood. Scarlett Johansson as the voice
of Samantha has done an incredible job- she makes her character real. Joaquin
Phoenix lends so much credibility; he has got all his emotions and mannerisms
in the absolute right measure.
It will be wonderful to have this film as an audio to listen
to over and over again. But while it is showing at a theatre near you, do go
and watch it.
Published in The Navhind Times on 16th Feb 2014
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