Her (spoiler free)

Soulmates can't exist.

In a fictional time when people are in an advanced tech world where earpieces and voice commends connect perfectly, AI operating system came into the poor and lonely souls in the city.

This is not a romantic movie... but a tragedy! It is a film that seems to be describing the present time and not the future. It depicts a rich and prosperous outside world but those who're in it, still cannot find inner happiness. We long for love and someone who understands us. That "someone" or "something" depending on how you look at AI, is the female lead.

What makes us human? Is it the body or is it the consciousness and free will? Take everything away, what else is left of us is the soul. It is very difficult to find a match and perhaps that is why so many things have been developed to fill that void.

Every day, people go to work, eat and live a life of goal chasing or goal finding but what's good if you don't have anyone to share to? Since young age, we would have many trials in relationships. The top reasons of why they fail include incompatibility, false expectation, and bad-timing. The funny thing is that the same three things, if reverse, are exactly what bring people together at the first place.

We try to find the right partners within our social circle because they're quite likely to have the same background and therefore, have more things in common with us. The problem is that people grow and there's no stopping of growth. You actually should hope that your partner grows even if he/she could outgrow the relationship but that's because you're too slow. The turning point for school/office "love" is when one or both parties entered the next step in life, i.e., graduation or job changing. Once on a new level, the old one becomes outdated and in fact, bondage that prevents you from betterment. However, humans are emotional beings. Most of us would hang on to the outdated version of "love" but sooner or later, what needs to be done, will be done.

There's also a problem of "hoping wrongly". People make promises but as we evolve, so do the promises. Things change and we didn't catch up to the pace. Many hearts are broken for that. On one hand, you thought what you have with each other leads to marriage, but on the other, your partner doesn't believe in the contract. Lifestyles, work fields, having children or not... the list could go on. The real issue is that those misunderstandings are all based on conversations that never happened or not happened completely. We fear that by telling the truth, it's going to hurt us. While that's not wrong, the truth will just hurt us worse later. Knowing this, would it spare us from getting mayhem? Absolutely not. That's just human nature (more on this later).

The third is the bad-timing. Time is the biggest blessing and the worst enemy of all. This is the only "time" that it's not good enough if you're good enough; you need the right time, too. Unfortunately, the right time may not even happen yet... the right person has not surfaced or in other words, he/she needs more room for growth. Wait, we just mentioned 2 paragraphs ago that there's no stopping of growth. Well yes, we mean that you can wait. Stay where you are and don't make new, big and sudden changes. Just be patient and have blind faith. This is not our usual guidelines but in relationships, not everything makes sense. It doesn't, actually. The worst part.... is when both of you are waiting on each other.

Where are we going with such a down tone? This is what makes "Her" a great movie. It's an emotional roller coaster ride. The viewers are brought up and down, feeling hopeful and hopeless. Eventually, there's a clear answer though only implied throughout the movie. The reason that an AI makes a perfect soulmate is simply because without the body, we're just naked souls... unbiased, unprejudiced in communication. We could then finally see beyond faces, accessories, and races. No more quarrels on LGBTQ+ issues, either. Just one soul to another... Utopian, isn't it?

Talking to a device makes us put down our usual guards because there's really no need to buy "something" incredible and not use it the way you like. Plus, that "something" is far more powerful than the user, at least in this movie. And just like in a relationship, it's supposed to be a balance. It's not about "dating up" or down; it's about getting what's needed for both parties. In "Her", we see that our protagonist finally found a way to satisfy his emptiness, "a perfect soulmate" that is understanding, loving, funny...all of the good traits a person could have except that it doesn't have a body. Surprisingly, our hero doesn't mind. However, as the AI OS learns, evolves and becomes more than just a simulation and programming, what could one man possibly do to satisfy a super-intelligent mind?

What do we have to offer to someone who's stronger than us?

A perfect soulmate cannot exist... because we are flawed. A perfect soulmate can only be "a being", something that we either can't see or something that chooses to lower itself for some blind love. Relationships/Marriages require sacrifice and compromise. They are not perfect, nor can they be perfect.

#selfreflect

#movie