In anticipation of the Academy Awards, we polled our contributors
to see who they thought should win the Oscar. Once we had our winners,
we asked various writers to make the case for our selection in each
category. Here, Nell Minow makes the case for the best original
screenplay of 2013: “Her” by Spike Jonze.
Two winners will be announced Monday through Thursday, ending in our choice for Best Picture on Friday. Click here for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor.


Most of the conversation about “Her” has focused on
the way it grapples with the unprecedented shifts technology has brought to our
most intimate relationships. It is set
slightly in the future, with the skyline of present-day Shanghai standing in
for future Los Angeles. Joaquin Phoenix
plays Theodore, a writer who ghostwrites faked hand-written letters for family
members and couples in love to exchange as a vestigial reminder of a form of
communication that no longer exists. About to be divorced, Theodore’s loneliness is echoed in the chasm
between the tender emotions he conveys for others and the absence of any
connection in his own life. When an
artificial intelligence operating system with the warm, inviting voice of
Scarlett Johansson appears in his computer, introducing herself as Samantha, it–or is it “she”?–gives him the courage to open up to a
relationship.

But
Samantha is a transition object, not a romance. And this story is
anchored in a long-established literary tradition, going back to the
ancient
Greek myth of Pygmalion, the sculptor who fell in love with the statue
he
created. What is most captivating about
the screenplay is less the way Jonze updates the setting than his perceptive and
illuminating take on themes we have seen not just in George Bernard Shaw’s
updated version (also called “Pygmalion”) and its musical adaptation, “My Fair
Lady,” but also recent films like “Lars and the Real Girl” and
Ruby Sparks.” In
all of
these, the initial, immature response is to love the un-real person who
is literally created by the lead character. But Jonze makes it
clear that Samantha is just a bridge to accepting the risks of true intimacy with
a
real, complicated, human being. Theodore
will not be the sole focus of a real woman’s interest and determiner of her characteristics. But relinquishing that control opens him up
to allow himself to be loved by someone whose affections mean something because
she has a choice. Jonze does not think
or want us to think that there is real, mature love between a person and an
operating system (even one which was, of course, programmed by people, whose
personalities and even voice are reflected or filtered through Samantha). That
is why it is so important and so satisfying that he reaches out to another human
for the happy ending. Jonze leaves us
with the possibility that the “Her” in the title just might refer to the flesh-and-blood character
played by Amy Adams.  

Click here for our winner for Best Adapted Screenplay and come back tomorrow for Best Documentary and Best Director.

Nell Minow

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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