Scarlett Johansson seems to be making a name for herself with otherworldly roles. In the newly-released Under The Skin she plays an alien in human form with a blank, almost robotic expression; in the Oscar-winning Her she plays an operating system in voice only yet somehow seems all the more human.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix in a much softer role than we’re
used to, Her is set in a near future
LA that’s clean and colourful, as if sleekly designed by Apple. In this future our lives are controlled by a
voice activated ear piece and smart phone-esque tablet, reading out emails, playing
music and even chatting in Internet sex chat rooms. Phoenix plays Theodore, a somewhat antisocial
employee at a bespoke personal letter writing company and hopeless romantic, small
and alone in the expansive cityscapes. He’s
also in a vulnerable position having recently split from his wife (Rooney
Mara). Urged on by an advertisement, he
upgrades his ear piece to a new AI operating system, the OS1 (voiced by the
seductive Johansson), that’s personalised to his tastes and evolves over time. Less a computer and more a human voice
directly in his ear, Theodore and the sentient “Samantha” strike up an unusual
relationship that quickly becomes more than just a friendship.
In Samantha, Theodore finds the embodiment of womanly perfection
that was missing in his marriage. Each
of the real women he meets are dysfunctional: his ex-wife and childhood
sweetheart Catherine (Mara), his hyper-sexual blind date (Olivia Wilde), and
his friend Amy (Amy Adams) and her failing marriage. Yet what constitutes the perfect woman? Is it the super-mum in the video games he
plays, the attractive beauty willing to have sex on a first date, or the bodiless
voice of friendship in his ear? Samantha,
too, has her hang-ups – over time she begins to question her existence and what
it means to be human.
Is it dysfunction that makes us human, flaws and all? And is there anything more dysfunctional than
being in a relationship with a synthetic being?
Is his relationship with Samantha any less real because of her lack of
body, any less of a meaningful relationship?
One particular scene sees the couple hiring a surrogate body in some
sort of perverted threesome. It doesn’t
go well. This is a partnership that
works predominantly in the mind. Is physical
form even necessary?
Theodore has his doubts but he ultimately learns to accept
the unconventional, his relationship with Samantha catharsis after his failed
marriage. Love comes in many forms, we
must take the good with the bad, whether human or synthetic and however they
may end. Who would you choose to share
your life with?
It may seem like a saccharine message, but it’s testament to
Spike Jonze’s exceptional screenplay (for which the film won an Oscar) and the
touching performances that this bizarre conceit seems so believable. Yet is it that far gone? In reality, Samantha is only one step on from
Apple’s Siri. Science-fiction meets
tender love story could be the future of our relationships and we have this beautiful
and thought-provoking film to thank.
5/5
