How To Fall In Love With Your Computer: Her Film Review (FINAL)

Her (2013)

R | 126 min | Drama, Science Fiction, Romance | December 18th, 2013

By: Georgia Bardaklis and Nesma Bensissaid

Director & Writer: Spike Jonze

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams

(https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/her/)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRvTv_tpw0

Set in the near future, the film focuses on Theodore Twombly, who earns his living by writing personal thoughtful cards for other people.  Ironically, after a brutal ending to his marriage, Theodore feels completely alone in his own personal life yet pours his romantic self into these letters written for complete strangers.

Theodore tries to fill the deep emptiness he feels by playing video games and engaging in“phone sex”.  However, his world drastically changes when the first artificial intelligence software comes out to the public. Not capable of resisting, he buys the software which almost immediately shows that it can have mind of its own. As time passes, Theodore and the iOS (operating system), who calls herself Samantha, start to connect spiritually and emotionally. Samantha starts to fill in the emptiness in Theodore’s life.

Samantha's consciousness evolves at an exponential rate. She starts learning about the world through the tiny handheld camera Theodore carries with him. Even without a body, Samantha falls in love with Theodore, and he with her.

Because Theodore is often in conversation with the voice of Samantha but still physically alone,  most of the film focuses on his reactions and emotions through his facial expressions. Hence numerous close-ups used to capture Theodore's emotional reactions and moods, bringing to life his romance with Samantha and the evolution of his character.

At the very beginning of the movie, we see Theodore working at a company that writes thoughtful personal cards for other people. The first scene starts with a close-up of his face as he dictates a message for a couple that was married for 50 years. His facial expressions give the impression that writing letters is a passion of his and that he might be a romantic person. We can see that Theodore pours his romantic feelings into those letters.

When the relationship between Samantha and Theodore is in full bloom, Samantha writes songs on the piano to express her joy and love. She plays her pieces to Theodore through his earphones. Thus, the pieces of music are only heard by Theodore and the viewers. Every time Samantha creates a new piece of soft classical music the sound of it gradually increases as if it becomes non-diegetic; in reality it’s only her and Theodore that hear it. It is as if they are in their own world separate from everyone else. They are in their own bubble; cutting off reality, but the music brings us into that intimate world with them. It  blurs between diegetic and non-diegetic.

When Samantha and Theodore have their first real fight--due to the fact that Samantha was trying too hard to please Theodore because she felt insecure about not having a body---Theodore finds himself lonely once again.  Through a low-angle shot, we see him look up at the night sky and we see the tall buildings from below. It gives the viewer the impression that he is asking for help from a “superior” being or looking to heavens for guidance.

Theodore takes with him everywhere a small camera so Samantha can see everything that is going on in the world. The camera represents Samantha’s body, her embodied self. It is the only way he can make her see the world around him--the wonders of nature and other humans interacting. The camera "body" in fact allows Samantha to interact with others (for example the double date they have with friends from work).  That little gadget is an important prop used.

Theodore lives in a minimalistic way: the only “things” he actually uses are his computer, his eye glasses and the small camera for Samantha. Every time he takes off his glasses, (another important prop), it’s when he hears something he does not like or when he worries a lot. Taking off his glasses signifies to the audience that Theodore is disappointed panicked, sad, etc.

For example, when he thinks he lost Samantha (when she upgrades her system) as he sat down on the metro stairs he takes off his glasses.

In addition, slow zooming with the camera onto Theodore’s face, engaged the audience to look closely at his facial expressions. Since Samantha couldn’t be physically present in the scenes, the only way to show their special connection was through Theodore's face expressions, even when they weren’t necessarily talking. Importantly, when they first “make love” with one another, they started to reveal their true selves, which created a real sense of intimacy between them. The dialogue they had, opened a door leading to desire for one another. The whole scene was focused on his face, showing every little details and twitch he had while talking to Samantha.

Themes and Issues

What may seem as our “blessing” [i.e technology] may be the cause of our downfall: In the movie, the lonely Theodore was the main result of human experience. He was completely buried in technology. It killed the “human touch” to not only Theodore’s life, but the entire society in which he lived in. The setting took place in a not so distant future; the smartphones were replaced by IOSes and the way in which the city was filmed seemed like a Utopian society, however not a lot of interactions with other characters were made: there were crowds of people, but most of them stayed in their own bubble not relating to one another. Thus, artificial intelligence and modern technology, which were originally supposed to connect us to one another led us to do the complete opposite: the illusion of relationships.

A theme that is raised mostly during the beginning of the film Her is loneliness and isolation. The main protagonist, Theodore Twombly, is in the midst of finalizing his divorce. The only thing left for him to do is to sign the divorce papers, but Theodore has been putting it off and stalling the process. He does not want to come to terms with the fact that his marriage is over and isolates himself in the process.  Throughout the entire film, Theodore reminisces about the better days with his ex-wife when they weren’t constantly fighting. By fixating on these memories, Theodore ends up isolating himself from other people, other couples (such as Amy and Charles at the beginning), and creates this barrier that blocks him from making any meaningful connection to the world around him.  This idea of social isolation is portrayed throughout the movie in general as well. In a sea of people, everyone still feels alone because of that vital need for real human connection, not the artificial nonsense many are receiving.People need to embrace the physical connections surrounding them, instead of the digital connections that impede them.  This idea of loneliness and isolation is portrayed physically when Theodore is in focus in frames and everything around him is out of focus, emphasizing the detachment at times. Theodore will have to face these feelings head on to be able to move on with his life and find a real connection again (Samantha). Yet, even with Samantha, with that connection present, Theodore still has that feeling of loneliness and isolation at times...particularly prominent as the film approaches its end. Showing that even with that special person or people present around you, it’s still possible to feel isolated and alone in the world. We are sociable creatures by nature but with society’s antisocial development through technological dependency, we have never felt more alone.   

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Film Review

Overall the movie was, in our opinion, very good: the themes were presented in a way that made the viewer question themselves and their future. In other words, the movie raised many ethical questions concerning the development of humans as a whole society and the impacts that technology may have on us.

Furthermore, the film pictured a possible future for all of us: in our constant quest for connection and pleasure; we become isolated and unhappy.  The different cinematic techniques that were used (examples in the above text) represented the aching loneliness of the main character in his everyday life, making the viewer question themselves and really think: could we actually go as far as dating an OS in order to fill in the loneliness that invade our lives?

The producer of the movie chose the right actor, Joaquin Phoenix, to act as Theodore, since he played alone for most parts of the movie, it added an extra weight on his shoulders. He captured every moment perfectly and managed to keep the viewer's attention throughout the whole movie: the camera being mostly focused on his face, he had to choose the right facial expressions in order to keep the viewer focused and the plot going. In addition to his acting, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) even though she was not physically there, had a voice that seemed very real, thus adding a hint of “human” to the movie, from her voice cracks to her occasional breathing.

The director and producer Spike Jonze, had an idea in mind... the severity of society’s detachment and the extent of how technologically centered they are nowadays. At first it seemed out of hand and ridiculous, but when we watched the movie for a second time, it did make sense.

Finally, the movie was a little too long and stretched out. The whole could have been filmed in a little less than 2 hours, but it was fairly enjoyable to watch.

Connections to Class Discussions

1. A subject that is constantly discussed in class and shown repeatedly in the movie, is the self-aware self. The self-aware self is when we can reflect on our own experience, we can make out subjectivity/experience an object to think about and reflect upon. Samantha throughout the film shows distinct signs of having a self-aware self; she even states at the beginning that , “what makes [her her] is [her] ability to grow through [her] experiences. Basically, in every moment [she’s] evolving, just like you” (Jonze 14). She can contemplate on her encounters as well as enhance and develop from them much like humans do. Likewise, she always utilizes the pronouns "I", "I am", a key symbol to represent the self .

2. Moreover,  Samantha is sentient; she can feel and  see with the guide of the gadget Theodore utilizes; but would we be able to really say that she has a consciousness? Samantha stated in the film that she had the capacity to develop through her encounters. In any case, she didn't have that many encounters; however towards the end of the film she began contacting different IOSes who were like her. Furthermore, she additionally conversed with 8 316 other operating systems and individuals. Therefore she encountered and "lived" to see a vast amount of humans  other than Theodore. As a result, she was subject to her own understanding by having contact with things that are external to her own "singularity" as she had let appear. She developed from her encounters and progressed. We would thus be able to state that she had a core-minimal self, Samantha had some sort of neural and biological capacity. Since she had the capacity to develop at a quick rate without any assistance and with the aid of her different encounters. There was something in her that enabled her to comprehend what she was and how to respond in a coordinated way.

3. On another note,  we have been discussing social robots as well as sex robots recently. While Samantha does not have a physical body, she still fits the mold of a social robot which are basically defined as: artificial beings designed to function as autonomous agents that are capable of taking on everyday roles that were previously assigned to humans. Not only that but Samantha also has sex with Theodore, (although the how is still a mystery to us, it did happen). Theodore even goes as far as saying that Samantha “[feels] real to [him]” (Jonze 43). This is a fascinating explanation since how might she feel genuine when she is only a program, not physically present. The lines between what's genuine and what's not are somewhat obscured. The fear of moral deskilling additionally comes to play,  Samantha being a prime example; all Theo does or consider is her. He associates more with an operating system than people. The potential danger that we could lose what it is like to be human, not being as affluent in reading body language or making eye contact or trying to understand where individuals originate from is a major concern. Samantha talks and responds in such a human-like way, it is easy to overlook the fact that she isn't there in the room physically since she lives in a computer. If everyone started finding these operating systems more exciting and intriguing than another human beings, what would happen to us as a whole? As a community?  

Food for Thought

1- Do you think human interaction will completely disappear as new technology keeps entering the market?

2- If artificial intelligence becomes popular, will it be ethically okay to use them as personal servants if they claim to be sentient and to have personhood?

3- [For the team that watched the movie] Was Samantha subject to her own experience? Explain. (i.e. does she have a self-aware self?)

Fun facts

This article approaches the topic of artificial intelligence and the fears that are often related to this topic. It is important to keep in mind the values and ethics one wants to maintain when creating a social robot for example. It goes on to speak about the reasons why we should be wary and very careful when working in the AI industry and that it’s not all great and problem/risk free.  https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534871/our-fear-of-artificial-intelligence/

This article talks about the progress in sex robots and focuses specifically on Harmony a prototype of Abyss Creations’ RealDoll and her creator Matt McMullen. He explains how the sexual part is all superficial, the difficulties lie in replicating personalities and creating that bond. He goes on to discuss the complexities of creating a immaculate and perfect sex robot, one that is more that just carefully crafted technology and actually has responses and to a certain extent thoughts. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/27/race-to-build-world-first-sex-robot

Work cited

1. Ford, Paul. “Are We Smart Enough to Control Artificial Intelligence?” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 1 Feb. 2016, www.technologyreview.com/s/534871/our-fear-of-artificial-intelligence/.
2. “Joaquin Phoenix with quote from movie "Her" .” Twitter, Naomi Rikley, 29 Mar. 2016, twitter.com/naomirikley/status/715057843448254464.
3. Jonze, Spike. “Her.” Her (2013) - Rotten Tomatoes, 24 Oct. 2017, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/her/.
4. Kleeman, Jenny. “The race to build the world's first sex robot.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Apr. 2017, www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/27/race-to-build-world-first-sex-robot.