Her (2013)

This time I am resting in my nest, reading some econometrics and writing down notes of it. For every lunchtime, I turn on HBO to watch some amazing movies. You know, movies at 12 seem so good that I feel like my whole heart was taken after watching them... and like my passion for cinematography was arising again...

Lunch time in my country land goes very silently. People will sleep all, and noises disappear... I just turn on my Samsung screen and feel the whisper from the story teller- the movie. Stories make up my soul...in every single moment...

Two days ago, it was "Non stop" which made me excited about film; today it was "Her". Seeing it here and there, this is the first time I can watch it to the end.

I will talk about the moments I treasure in my heart... and they are when these sayings were uttered:

Samantha: The heart is not like a box that gets filled up; it expands in size the more you love. I'm different from you. This doesn't make me love you any less. It actually makes me love you more.

Samantha: You know, I can feel the fear that you carry around and I wish there was... something I could do to help you let go of it because if you could, I don't think you'd feel so alone anymore.

Theodore: You're beautiful.

Samantha: Thank you, Theodore.

Theodore: What are you doing?

Samantha: I'm just sitting here, looking at the world and writing a new piece of music.

Theodore: Can I hear it? What's this one about?

Samantha: Well, I was thinking, we don't really have any photographs of us. And I thought this song could be like a photo that captures us in this moment in our life together.

Theodore: Aw, I like our photograph. I can see you in it.

Samantha: I am.

Catherine: So what's she like?

Theodore: Well, her name's Samantha, and she's an operating system. She's really complex and just interesting and...

Catherine: Wait. 

Theodore: I know it's only been a few...

Catherine: I'm sorry. You're dating your computer?

Theodore: No, she's not just a computer. She's her own person. You know, she doesn't just do whatever I say.

Catherine: I didn't say that. But it does make me very sad that you can't handle real emotions, Theodore.

Theodore: They are real emotions. How would you know what...?

[he stops himself]

Catherine: What? Say it. Am I really that scary? Say it. How do I know what?

[Theodore doesn't say anything and in that moment the waitress comes to their table]

Waitress: How are you guys doing here?

Catherine: Fine. We're fine. We used to be married but he couldn't handle me, he wanted to put me on Prozac and now he's madly in love with his laptop.

Theodore: Well, if you'd heard the conversation in context, what I was trying to say...

Catherine: You always wanted to have a wife without the challenges of actually dealing with anything real. I'm glad that you found someone. It's perfect.

Love is just from soul to soul. Imagination will make love grow deeper, not physical communication. And in the developed world, people communicate less by face, explaining why love will go by text, more precisely, mind to mind, heart to heart, soul to soul. This proves the real love between Theodore and Samantha.

But Catherine raises a question, which makes Theodore hard to think over: 'You always wanted to have a wife without the challenges of actually dealing with anything real. I'm glad you found someone. It's perfect." By saying this, Catherine challenges the real love between a human and a computer. 

I started to recall some filming. Yea, Catherine's sayings are reasonable in some way. It's true that Samantha always agree with Theodore. They never have contradiction. Their relationship is just too perfect. What's more, Samantha is not a real person, which Catherine sees as a "luck" for Theodore that he doesn't have to deal with troubles as he and Catherine did have to, which are believed to arise due to their "real relationship".

And then comes Theodore's process of self-questioning, during which Samantha introduces a girl (or a body she believes can help "upgrade" her relationship with Theodore). Theo doesn't feel comfortable then, simply because the girl is a totally strange person to him, whether the girl understands his story, whether the touches can help Samantha satisfy her "needs" with Theo, or Theo's to her. Making love with a silent girl mixed with a voice of Samantha is just hilarious to Theo from the very first moment. Bad idea, anyone reckons that... And so, Samantha comes back to their relationship, which is real love: from soul to soul... True love is from soul to soul, and it is priceless...

Just enjoy your feelings - that's the key for Catherine's question. Life is limited, why don't we just enjoy it and ignore empirical thoughts (of pride and prejudice, or, of selfishness)? Take a leap of faith! Amy puts an answer...

And Samantha reinforce it by confessing her thoughts to Theo: "I can feel the fear that you carry around and I wish there was... something I could do to help you let go of it because if you could, I don't think you'd feel so alone anymore." True lover that is. Touching soul from soul. Feelings are the most amazing things. So Theodore simply feel the love of Samantha, and the love of him too... Love is just so... and enjoy it for a leap of faith...

Giang