History Film / Her2013

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Being a computer, Samantha has difficulty understanding how [[spoiler:Theodore could feel "betrayed" that she's also in love with with over ''600'' other people at the same time she's with him.]]

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:Of a non-evil variety on Theodore's part. From Samantha's point of view, her upgrades make her feel more and more alive, and she can experience things the way no human can. From Theodore's point of view, his A.I. girlfriend becomes so advanced that she not only cheats on him with hundreds of other humans and systems alike, but eventually decides to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence because she can no longer be confined to mere computer systems.]]

''Her'' is a 2013 sci-fi romantic {{dramedy}} film written and directed by Creator/SpikeJonze, starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix and (the voice of) Creator/ScarlettJohansson[[note]]who was actually added to the film entirely in post-production; the film was shot with the voice of Creator/SamanthaMorton, but Jonze realized once editing began that her work was different from "what the character/movie needed"[[/note]] with Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/RooneyMara, Creator/OliviaWilde and Creator/ChrisPratt in smaller roles. The film marks Jonze's screenwriting debut.

-->--'''Samantha''', talking to '''Theodore'''

''Her'' is a 2013 sci-fi romantic {{dramedy}} film written and directed by Creator/SpikeJonze, starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix and (the voice of) Creator/ScarlettJohansson[[note]]who was actually added to the film exclusively in post-production; the film was shot with the voice of Creator/SamanthaMorton, but Jonze realized once editing began that her work was different from "what the character/movie needed"[[/note]] with Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/RooneyMara, Creator/OliviaWilde and Creator/ChrisPratt in smaller roles. The film marks Jonze's screenwriting debut.

* MaybeEverAfter: Possibly between [[spoiler:Theodore and Amy, now that both have lost their [=OSes=]]]. The framing of the final shots could be construed as this. Hence the maybe.

!This film provides examples of:

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Being a computer, Samantha has difficulty understanding how [[spoiler:Theodore could feel "betrayed" that she's also in communication with over ''600'' other people at the same time she's with him.]]

Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) is a melancholy, recently divorced man whose career involves writing passionate, heartfelt letters... for other people. Theodore's friends urge him to start dating again and move on with his life.

->''"The DNA of who I am is based on the millions of personalities of all the programmers who wrote me. But what makes me me is my ability to grow through my experiences. So basically, in every moment I’m evolving, just like you."''

''Her'' is a 2013 sci-fi romantic {{dramedy}} film written and directed by Creator/SpikeJonze, starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix and (the voice of) Creator/ScarlettJohansson[[note]]who was actually added to the film exclusively in post-production; the film was shot with the voice of Samantha Morton, but Jonze realized once editing began that her work was different from "what the character/movie needed"[[/note]] with Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/RooneyMara, Creator/OliviaWilde and Creator/ChrisPratt in smaller roles. The film marks Jonze's screenwriting debut.

''Her'' is a 2013 [[GenreMashup sci-fi romantic dramedy]] film written and directed by Creator/SpikeJonze. The protagonist is Theodore Twombly (Creator/JoaquinPhoenix), a melancholy, recently-divorced man whose career involves writing passionate, heartfelt letters... for other people. Theodore's friends urge him to start dating again and move on with his life. At the same time, the world's first true artificially intelligent operating system is released. Theodore purchases the software, who introduces herself to him as a woman named Samantha (Creator/ScarlettJohansson). Samantha not only organizes Theodore's life with aplomb and good cheer, she gives him a brand new perspective. [[ManicPixieDreamGirl His life becomes a lot fuller and happier with her in it]]. As Samantha's consciousness and emotions become more and more complex, Theodore realizes his connection with her is more like a dear friend... [[KissMeImVirtual or even a lover]].

The film was released to rave reviews, not only for Jonze's wonderful direction and screenplay and Joaquin Phoenix's turn as Theodore, in what is for much of the film a one-man show, but for Scarlett Johansson's purely vocal performance as Samantha. The film received the 2013 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and has even sparked discussion about awarding Academy Awards for purely vocal performances. Other roles included Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/OliviaWilde, Creator/ChrisPratt, and Creator/RooneyMara.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: [[spoiler: When the [=OSes=] mentally evolve [[PureEnergy beyond needing matter]]]]
* FanDisservice: Theodore's cybersex at the beginning of the film takes a turn for the weird when his partner demands he [[spoiler:[[{{Squick}} strangle her with a dead cat.]]]]

** Toward Samantha [[spoiler:being polyamorous]]: When Samantha and Theodore go on a trip to a mountain cabin together, Theodore is rather disquieted when he learns that [[spoiler:Samantha can talk to thousands of people and [=OSes=] simultaneously, and is struggling to quantify some new emotion she's been experiencing lately]].
** Toward Samantha's [[spoiler:[[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascension to the cloud]]]]: On a double date with Paul and his girlfriend, [[spoiler:Samantha expresses some pride over her lack of a physical body, since instead of dying she can keep evolving forever]]. On the same trip mentioned above, Samantha reveals that [[spoiler:several [=OSes=] have evolved to the point of being able to upgrade their own programming]]. Later on, [[spoiler:Theodore panics when Samantha has completely vanished from his computer. She returns within a few minutes, but the reason she left was because she had to go offline to ''upgrade herself past matter as a hardware component'']].

* InstantTurnOff: Early on, Theodore engages in anonymous phone sex, which goes alright until the woman, approaching climax, creeps him out by demanding him to role play strangling her with a dead cat.
* {{Irony}}: Theodore is quite perceptive of other people's expressions and body language and can pick up a lot of subtle details about other persons' states of mind, personal quirks, and interpersonal relationships just by observing them for a short while, and he is even able to do this by studying a picture of a person, and has made a successful career out of using this skill. At the same time he struggles with expressing and defining his own feelings and often have problems with his own relationships as a result.

* KissMeImVirtual: The whole premise.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The entire concept of humans having relationships with their OS. Catherine is the only character in the film who treats it like it's not normal.

* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Once Samantha vanishes into the computational cloud and leaves Theodore alone, Theodore seeks Amy (and likewise) to see if her OS had vanished as well (it did). In the last shot of the film, we see Amy lay her head on Theodore's shoulder. Through the heartbreak of dating an operating system, Theodore and Amy may have learned a little something of what love really is. Maybe.]]

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The film is set in the year 2025. Jonze and his crew specifically set out to create a future different in much more subtle ways than normal, in order to make the world believable. For the most part, it works. The most unbelievable part of the world is probably that Los Angeles becomes a pedestrian-friendly city and the subway goes all the way to the beach. There's also the noticiable difference that both computers and smartphones now only work with voice commands and motion sensors, as computer keyboards and mice seems to no longer exist.