In 2013, director Spike Jones presented the film "She" to the world. Reviews about the picture were so good that the tape even earned the Oscar. What is so original that Jonza managed to create? And how did his creation conquer the audience?
The creators of the picture
Spike Jones first made himself known as a talented director in 1999, filming the comedy drama “Being John Malkovich” starring John Cusack. This film received 3 Oscar nominations and many other awards, though less prestigious.
Back in the 2000s, Jones decided to shoot the film "She." Positive reviews about the film “I'm here”, which tells of love between two robots, inspired Spike to continue working on the script of another tape. The search for funding and actors for the filming began in 2011. The first to participate in the project was Joaquin Phoenix. Jonze’s idea impressed the artist, and he helped find producers for the project.
It was much more difficult to solve the issue with the cast. First, the main female role in the project was Samantha Morton. The actress was supposed to voice artificial intelligence named Samantha. Already at the post-production stage, a replacement suddenly occurred: Scarlett Johansson gave her voice to artificial intelligence. Spike Jones also tried to attract her to the role of the wife of the protagonist Carey Mulligan, but she was busy in The Great Gatsby, so the character went to Rooney Mara.
Short story
In recent years, American cinema has increasingly gravitated toward the themes of the total loneliness of megalopolis residents. In desperation, people are ready for close relationships with anyone - even with invisible, intangible artificial intelligence. About this tells the film "She."
The plot of the drama revolves around Theodore Twombly. The action takes place in the near future. Computer programs are actively involved in all areas of human life. Letters are now optionally written manually. There are special organizations that will do this for you. Theodore works in one of these companies.
In the afternoon, he lives the life and emotions of other people. And in the evening - lonely wanders around his apartment, hard going through a divorce from his ex-wife. Sometimes the main character has sex online. One day Theodore sees an advertisement for a new operating system - artificial intelligence, fulfilling the wishes of his master. Twombly buys a program. Artificial intelligence is a sociable and sociable girl named Samantha. Theodore begins to communicate with her, they become friends. Then a romance arises between them.
However, artificial intangible intelligence is not able to replace a real person. When Theodore accidentally met his ex-wife, he clearly felt this. In the final of the hero one more disappointment awaits. It turns out that Samantha is not the only one: in fact, the machine is in a mental relationship with another 8 thousand people. The ideal relationship between Samantha and Theodore ends in complete collapse.
Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore
Joaquin Phoenix is an American actor and musician. His mother worked in the casting department of NBC, so her children began acting on television at an early age.
The first serious work of the Phoenix in the movie was the role of the dysfunctional teenager Jimmy in the movie "What is worth dying for." Joaquin's partners in the frame were the stars Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon. In the 2000s, the actor broke into a big movie, playing the role of the emperor in the historical film "The Gladiator" with Russell Crowe in the title role. Then there were the paintings “Hotel Rwanda”, “Cross the Line”, “Fatal Passion” and the film “She”.
Joaquin Phoenix played in the project of Spike Jonze a lonely and somewhere unhappy man. His life is a complete illusion. After the writer Theodore Twombly left his beloved wife, he completely went into the fantasy world. All day at work, Theodore lives the emotions and feelings of his clients, writing personal letters for each other for them. In the evenings, Twombly freezes in network games. And even if the main character meets with women, then novels also occur only online, virtually.
It is not surprising that the impressionable writer managed to fall in love with artificial intelligence. At some stage, the protagonist was still worried by the question: how normal is this? However, then he drove away thoughts from himself, continuing relations that initially had no future.
One day, Theodore discovers that Samantha (as his virtual girlfriend was called) is a universal program. It simultaneously operates on several devices and conducts conversations simultaneously with 8 thousand users. 600 of them, Samantha, it seems to her, loves. This discovery turned into a real collapse of his world for Twombly. And yet, when Samantha decides to leave, Theodore regrets this and experiences a real tragedy. This pushes him to resume traditional human relations in the real world.
“She” (film): Scarlett Johansson as Samantha
Scarlett Johansson is a Class A star in Hollywood and needs no introduction. She began acting in her teens: everyone can see her, for example, in the movie “Home Alone - 3” and “Horse Whisperer”. Then Scarlett looked like an ordinary neighbor girl.
However, in the early 2000s, the girl decided to radically change the image. With the help of plastic surgery, she perfected the shape of her nose, dyed her blonde and began to exploit her sexuality with might and main. As a result, the role of a heartbreaker was assigned to the actress. And if the directors need a performer for the role of an extremely sexy heroine or an insidious seducer, most often they invite Scarlett.
The fantastic melodrama of Spike Jonze is an interesting experiment. A celebrity like Scarlett Johansson in this whole story plays the role of just the voice of the operating system. The actress does not appear in person, does not appear in the frame. She is just a voiceover.
Amy Adams as Theodore's girlfriend
Another guest celebrity is Amy Adams. “She” is a film in which the actress was assigned the modest role of Theodore’s girlfriend. According to the plot, Amy lives next door to Theodore. Previously, they tried to establish a romantic relationship. However, Theodore thought that Amy was only pulling on her friend, but not on her lover. And they remained buddies.
Amy is a director. For several months now, she has been trying to make a documentary, but constantly something does not work out and does not work out for her. But Amy manages to get into the same networks as Theodore - she has an affair with artificial intelligence with a male voice. As a result, the virtual lover also leaves Amy. He and Theodore meet late in the evening and silently sad about the lost relationship. The finale remains open: it is not known how the heroes will improve their life further.
Amy Adams is a five-time Academy Award nominee. However, up to 30 years, her career was completely simple. She starred in low-budget series, sometimes she managed to get a supporting role in a large-scale project. But nothing good came out anyway.
An unexpected breakthrough for Amy was the participation in the low-budget independent film "June Beetle". The picture earned her an Oscar nomination. This was followed by large-budget projects “Night at the Museum - 2”, “Fighter” and “American Scam”. So the performer broke out into the major acting league.
“She” (film): Rooney Mara as Theodore's ex-wife
Rooney Mara shocked the public by playing a major role in the thriller Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. For the sake of this role, the actress did an absurd hairstyle and agreed to participate in a number of frank scenes. As a result - nomination for an Oscar.
Rooney Mara in the project Spike Jonze got a not very big role. Her heroine is Theodore's ex-wife. They had a warm relationship, but then they divorced on the initiative of Katherine. At the end of the picture, Theodore writes an apology letter to his ex-wife and apologizes for not perceiving her for who she is and trying to change her. The viewer understands that the pressure on his part was the cause of the rupture.
Rooney Mara can also be seen in the Hollywood projects "Peng: Travel to Netland", "On the Run" and "Social Network".
Chris Pratt as Paul
The movie " Chris" also appears in the filmography of Chris Pratt . Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Pratt played work colleagues. Chris Pratt is also known to a wide audience as the Star Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy blockbuster and Joshua Faraday from the Magnificent Seven.
Other role performers
“She” is a 2013 film starring Olivia Wilde (“The Lazarus Effect”), Matt Letcher (“The Mask of Zorro”), Portia Doubleday (“Telekinesis”).
Also in the frame are the voices of the French singer Soko, actress Kristen Wiig and the director Spike Jonze himself, who voiced the funny child from the video game.
World premiere and box office
“She” is the 2013 film that Spike Jones first demonstrated at the New York Film Festival. December 18, the picture came out in limited rental in the United States. In Russia, the tape was shown only in February 2014. On the first day, the drama "She" was watched by 80 thousand people. The budget of the creation of Spike Jonze was allocated 23 million dollars. Since the picture is devoid of special effects, and the plot is distinguished by psychologism, we can make a definite conclusion that “She” is not a film for a wide audience. That is why at the box office tape collected only 47 million dollars.
Critic reviews
The film "She" received high reviews from critics. Evidence of this - 5 nominations for the Oscar, 3 nominations for the Golden Globe, 4 nominations for the Saturn. As a result, the picture won the Oscars and Golden Globes for the original script. Scarlett Johansson also took home the statue of Saturn for her supporting role.
Of the 229 world reviews, only 13 were negative. That is, approximately 94% of critics took the film in a positive way. They were impressed with how skillful and unobtrusive Spike Jones included frankly erotic moments in the general canvas. The film could turn into another cheap thing, which is a place on a "special" site. However, all frank sex scenes were not shown for flirting with the viewer and his instincts. In how Spike engages in online sex with an inadequate stranger and tries to transfer relations with Samantha to the physical plane, and his total loneliness is displayed.
Only a desperate person can dream of making love not with a living, tangible partner, but with the operating system. And the way in which the total loneliness of the protagonist is shown is the originality of the Spike Jonze script.
Viewers reviews
The film “She” received the same reviews from the audience as from critics. Each in his own way defined the idea of the picture: someone saw a warning for people for the future, so that they would not be very keen on network novels and often go to "real"; someone decided that this is a story about the omnipresence of love - they say that even the operating system can be loved sincerely. A separate category of viewers saw in the script a hint that our gadgets are becoming more sophisticated and smarter, but are we becoming their better inventors?
Such unexpected variations in the interpretation of the plot tell only one thing: Spike Jones really managed to create a worthy film.