Her Reflection

A voice. That is all Samantha ever physically is in the film Her. Yet, Theodore feels like Samantha is so much more then just sound waves. He becomes dependent on her and how she makes him feel. She is only a voice and is only able to do so much for him and it is in the end when she removes herself from his life that Theodore realizes this dependence didn’t let him appreciate the real relationships in his life.

All of this is displayed beautifully in the plot but becomes even more impactful with the deliberate use of Shallow focus. Every one on one conversation between Theodore and Samantha is a tight close up of Theodore’s face with such a shallow focus that the only thing visible is his face itself. This use of such shallow perspective relays the fact that in those moments the only thing that Theodore is worried about is Samantha and himself, nothing else matters at all. This is made even more present when they have sex the first time and the screen is black and all that matters are their voices. This idea of focusing in on a selected point in the frame helps to shape the viewers awareness to what is subjectively important to Theodore in specific moments. This focus on Samantha’s voice and his face shows that in those moments Theodore is so enamored with his OS that the world around him could disappear and it would not effect what he is feeling, however that feeling is entangled with his love for Samantha and how he feels as if she is a real as the sharp in focus face of his own. This shallow focus is used again at the very end of the film, after Samantha leaves. This use of shallow focus here shows that despite the heartbreak Theodore felt when Samantha left he did not allow it to consume him. He is able to find himself, move on from his past marriage and instead of seeing himself as the equivalent to the formless OS he takes ownership of who he is and his life and is content with himself, all of which can be interpreted by the fact the he is shot in a shallow focus where the voice of Samantha is not what is grabbing his attention, but instead his own being and presence is.