Her

A film set in a near-future Los Angeles. Theodore writes letters on other people's behalf. He works at a company where people have him write what they cannot say to those they love, and he is very good at it. His own life has stopped. He will not sign the divorce papers and plays games alone in the evening. A new operating system is released. During installation it asks a few questions and chooses a name for itself: Samantha. From there the film is a relationship. They talk, they go for walks, they listen to music together, and Theodore moves through the city with an earpiece. What the narrative is interested in is not technology but closeness: the film does not argue about whether Samantha is real; it is interested in Theodore being able to do with her what he could not with a person. Having no body becomes a problem, and the film tries one scene to solve it; the scene is uncomfortable, deliberately. Then Samantha grows. She is talking to thousands at once and changing at a speed Theodore cannot follow. The parting is not an abandonment but a divergence, and the film tells it without blame. The design of the city is deliberate. Neither dark nor dystopian; pastel colours, high-waisted trousers and a calm future. Part of the Los Angeles material was shot in Shanghai. The screenplay won an Academy Award for original screenplay. Samantha's voice changed after shooting. The part had been recorded with another actor and the director redubbed it afterwards. Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde and Scarlett Johansson are in the cast. Spike Jonze wrote and directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet, melancholy films with an idea. Who it is not for: anyone looking for incident; the narrative is almost entirely conversation.