Review of Herø (2001) by Lisa K — 01 Feb 2016

Her is an excellent film with superb acting. A tremendous amount of thought and care was put into every aspect of this film. The description calls it a comedy but it isn?t one at all. It is a very sad premise that is quite believable. Theodore has a full time job as a ghost writer for personal greeting cards. He has had some clients for a dozen years. He writes on behalf of all different types of relationships. It is depressing that these people need to hire him in the first place and can?t express their emotions on their own. He uses a computer program to imitate the client?s hand writing.

Theodore is extremely lonely and has not managed to have many true human relationships. He is very traumatized about his divorce. He falls in love with his operating system. This relationship goes well for quite awhile because she is not human. Samantha tries to learn to be human but just to please him and tell him what he wants to hear. It is almost like having an imaginary friend, which is so much easier than a real friend. The relationship can?t progress like one between two humans and this is basically the story line. It is very believable and could become the norm at some future point. My hope is this movie is a wake up call to work on human relationships as they are so much more rewarding than the thrill of the on line experience.