Her

2013 / USA/ 126 minutes

Director:  Spike Jonze
Screenplay:  Spike Jonze
Stars:  Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt
Genre:  Science-fiction, romance, drama

This film is set in a near future Los Angeles.  Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) is in the process of divorcing his wife, Catherine (Mara), and works writing heartfelt, intimate letters to people on behalf of clients who either can't or won't write their letters themselves.  One day Theodore installs a new, talking, computer operating system (voiced by Johansson) with artificial intelligence, that can seemingly learn, adapt and evolve.  Calling itself Samantha, the operating system soon becomes invaluable to Theodore, and they soon fall in love.

This is a surprisingly sweet, and heartfelt romantic film despite it's science-fiction trappings.  There is a genuine poignancy in Theodore and Samantha's relationship.  Phoenix gives a great performance as the lonely, soulful writer who can only really express himself when he is writing letters posing as someone else.  Johansson however, is the real standout with her entirely vocal performance as the operating system.  There are wonderfully quirky science-fiction touches such as voice operated computers that mimic human handwriting, and the world that the film creates is far enough away that it seems strange and yet close enough to our own that it feels all too plausible.

This is a wonderful film and one of the best love stories of recent times.