At the beginning, Theodore was immersed in the emotion of lovelorn, and wrote all his memories of his wife's past in a letter. This kind of foreshadowing made the later human-machine love easier to accept. The appearance of Samantha gave Theodore a person to talk to in life and a helper at work. She could go shopping and read together. She would listen, give feedback, be funny, humorous, and write songs. This is exactly the projection of the "mother" that the computer information Theodore asked about. Accepting him unconditionally, it is reasonable for Theodore to fall in love with Samantha.
They talked over the air like a long-distance relationship. At first, they were just talking on the phone. After a long time, when cyber-sex could not satisfy them, Samantha began to find volunteers as substitutes. It was only then that Theodore realized that he couldn't quite accept her this way (that is, he just didn't love her that much), and slowly they became estranged. When Theodore finds out that she has more than 2,000 partners, even soulmate's relationship is in jeopardy, and the film reaches its climax and ends in post-climax loss.
The ideal partner of a man (especially a literary man) is like Samantha: optimistic, playful, cheerful; magnetic voice; listen to the troubles in life and give positive feedback; properly care about one's own work, if you can help Even better; artistic, at least one of singing, dancing, and writing songs; being jealous; having the same desire for sex. In the film, Scarlett is so perfect in this aspect that when I first started acting, I thought her AI was high like a human rather than a computer. Slowly I accepted this setting. After all, the computer was set based on my mother, but she was more perfect. Her unconditional acceptance reduces the cost of communication, which of course Theodore is willing to accept.
As a literary man, he has his own essential flaws while being delicate in his mind: he is not good at expressing and summarizing his feelings, so much so that when he is on a blind date, he is defeated by the last word of truth. It's normal for people to be blind in love, and Samantha's tenderness makes Theodore more likely to fall into psychedelia. This Plato-like love finally cracked after Samantha recruited volunteers.
In my opinion, Theodore is more dependent on Samantha than in love. The arrival of volunteers made him discover this. Because Theodore hates putting the blame on himself, Samantha begins to doubt herself. In order to continue relying on her, Theodore apologizes and hides the rift.
Love is always based on the premise of equal information and equal mentality between men and women. Long-term long-distance relationships are definitely not conducive to emotional development. Samantha is a computer, she can't go where Theodore goes, she can't share the sunshine he feels, the food he tastes, and the information is not equal. Furthermore, if Samantha is interested in music, then she will understand the entire music system, the history of European and American music, which is impossible for ordinary people, and the information cannot be equal. It can be seen that the fate of the two is doomed from the beginning.
The powerful message processing capability of the computer comes from the network, which we now call the "cloud". We all know the convenience of chatting online, chatting with girls, if you don't understand, you can save it by Baidu. And Samantha directly integrates various Baidu Wikipedia entries, like a living dictionary, so she will be interested in many things. As the saying goes, the greater the ability, the heavier the responsibility, and here we have to add "the more exits you need". Although Samantha accepts others unconditionally, in order to meet her needs, she has more than 2,000 partners. Human love is selfish, and the more the computer handles emotions, the more it can bear it. This is the essential difference between the two. She can "love everyone" equally.
Of course Theodore, who had fantasies about love, couldn't accept all of this. For a man with very little social activity, love is his only life-saving straw, and any form of sharing is tantamount to betrayal. In fact, this topic is very interesting. Those otakus who are with loveplus girls day and night, I wonder if their goddesses are also flirting with other boys.
The Internet can simulate private conversations to the truest degree, but it can never simulate the truest emotional exchanges. For the male protagonist who only needs to express his feelings, of course, he cannot understand this. It is easy to express, but it is difficult to tell the truth, and it is even more difficult to tell the truth. When couples communicate, it is wrong to listen or talk unilaterally. Communication, understanding and compromise are always bidirectional. When two people live together, there must be a running-in period. "Love each other's everything" means that you can love and endure.
This film goes beyond "Black Mirror" to a certain extent, and makes a deeper philosophical discussion on the impact of technology on life, ethics, and emotions. Although the film only gives a warm open ending, not a solution. But this film, which addresses the issue so thoroughly, is still a rare masterpiece. Joaquin Phoenix's perfect and delicate interpretation and Scarlett's sexy and sensual dubbing add a lot to the film. The whole film is filled with a faint warm color, which is not a common color in American movies, but I don't think this is a small and fresh category. It can only be said that the director has cast a layer of gauze effect on this dreamy love.
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