Watched on Netflix

What is love? Where does existence begin? How do you face a strange world and a great loss? All these are just some of the essential questions that director Spike Jonze addresses in his work "Her". Too much of a good thing? Not at all, because "Her" can claim to be one of the most creative and philosophical films of the last 20 years. And it's really only about one thing: the love between two individuals. But this is where the difficulty begins. While Theodore is a normal human being, admittedly somewhat broken and melancholic, but nevertheless a product of his increasingly alienated time and physically, Samantha is "only" an operating system. A program consisting of lines of code, of ones and zeros. But love goes further, deeper and is more complex than we can even imagine. And so in "Her" there is a moving, unbelievable, sad, sugar-sweet, loving and emotional journey of two dissimilar people, who stand symbolically for everything we are looking for in life.

Director Spike Jonze, meanwhile, has long had a soft spot for such unusual stories. Be it "Being John Malkovich" or "Adaptation". However, "Her" is much sharper, deeper and above all broader than his previous works. There is not only a realistic and thought-provoking world to marvel at (empty, cold, lonely and with a more than idiosyncratic fashion style), but also a love story that develops a more than unusual drive early on. For while Theodore has a physical presence, fabulously portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix as a shy, at times self-absorbed but also searching, Samantha has only a voice. It may be beneficial that this is spoken by a more than seductive as softly purring Scarlett Johansson, but there is much more behind the operating system. It is the question of existence. When does it begin, what constitutes it, where does it end and what is consciousness anyway? For Theodore, this question is already no longer asked shortly after turning on Samantha. He immediately has a humorous, lively as well as thoughtful person in front of him, who is his soul mate.

This incredibly dense as well as unusual love, is furthermore underpinned by a more than extraordinary visual style. Although "Her" was equipped with plenty of orange, the sparse, cold as well as technicized backdrops (including a terrific soundtrack - here especially Karen O with "The Moon Song") know how to please. But here the journey is far from over for director Spike Jonze. On the contrary, because while Theodore as well as Samantha get closer and closer through many intimate dialogues, feel their first sexual encounter as well as even perform the first public quarrel, Jonze already looks beyond his own set horizon. He begins this with the question of how such a love can work publicly (which is relatively easily dealt with in the story) and ends with an all-encompassing after the end. For while the pair's relationship seems to be at a high point (including a very visually stunning excursion into snow and loneliness), it starts a dramatic downward spiral that quickly makes Theodore realize that Samantha is, after all, just a program. Or is she? Here, the viewer must decide in the final analysis, which is what director Spike Jonze wants. The point remains: nothing is normal here, everything is possible and everything is beautiful (especially because of Theodore's actual work). Because life is actually much too short for some of the questions asked.