Her is set in the Los Angeles of the "near future," a place that looks both futuristic and familiar. Unlike future films of yore that featured flying cars and jetpacks, this vision of the future just feels like downtown Tokyo, brightly-colored and teeming with technology. In this setting we find Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a melancholy loner who writes love letters for a living. Yes, in the future, people outsource their love letters to BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, where writers like Theodore dictate letters that their computers "handwrite" for people who can't express themselves on their own. Adept at composing beautiful letters for strangers, Theodore is unable to articulate his own emotions very well, which is why he is currently in the midst of a divorce from his childhood sweetheart, Catherine (Rooney Mara). To feel less lonesome, he purchases a new operating system (OS) programmed with artificial intelligence that will allow it to grow and adapt like a human being. He picks a female identity for his OS, and in few short minutes, "Samantha" comes into his life.
Voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Samantha is charming and intuitive. Both she and Theodore are initially hesitant, unsure of what role she needs to play in his life. His old OS would read him his e-mails, remind him of meetings, and generally just do as it was told. But Samantha is so much more than that. She actually has conversations with him, senses his mood, offers opinions and suggestions. Created by over a million programmers, she has a command over multiple personalities but gradually starts to discover a personality of her own. Initially content to organize Theodore's e-mails and help him play video games, Samantha's sense of consciousness keeps expanding, until she starts experiencing actual emotions, and yearns to know what it feels like to have a body. And before long, she and Theodore have fallen in love.
It seems strange and remarkable to read about it, but believe me, there's nothing strange or remarkable about their relationship as you watch it develop in the movie. It seems perfectly natural, and the wonderful thing is how the people around Theodore also accept it as a perfectly legitimate relationship. Just like the world of this movie feels both real and surreal, this relationship is so grounded in truth and humanity that it contains the barest twinge of fantasy.
Her is a beautifully constructed commentary on relationships in the modern age, anchored by a stunning performance from Joaquin Phoenix. And Scarlett Johansson's voice is enough to make Samantha a three-dimensional character - you can picture her and the love she shares with Theodore; she's never just a disembodied voice. This movie also deserves multiple accolades for its production designer, K.K. Barrett. Every piece of technology, fashion, architecture, and design has been meticulously crafted to lend authenticity to this world and you won't want to look away. Her is a triumph of modern film-making, and most importantly, it is a film about a future that feels tantalizingly real.
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