LESS AS MORE
The movie Her is set in the “slight future” of Los Angeles. It’s the story of a young man, Theodore Twombly, who falls in love with his smartphone’s operating system, Samantha. The film’s set designers have imagined the city as one free of noise, crowds and character. People live and work in high rises floating free from any landscape, that could be just about anywhere: Singapore, Barcelona or Lagos. (These exteriors were filmed in Pudong, China.) The clusters of glass towers are connected by wide, raised walkways that seem to float in the air. From this vantage the city has no cars, trees, or billboards, no dirt or clutter, and no music, conflict or conversation either. People don’t look at or talk to one another; they are always, seemingly contendedly, interacting with their phones.
Theodore lives alone downtown in a big modern apartment with ribbon windows, a glass box in the sky. (These interiors were filmed at WaterMarke Tower in LA.) There are no curtains, no carpets and no artwork, and there’s no sofa or coffee table either. The home feels barren, as if it’s been just recently abandoned, or just recently rented. What furniture there is, chairs and a desk, are pushed to the walls and corners. These pieces are contemporary, crafted simply from wood, steel and leather, and reference mid-century modern designs. But none are iconic, precious or beautiful; they are all small, dark and worn, sadly pragmatic.
Like Theodore’s wardrobe of sexless button-down shirts, chinos and desert boots, the furniture suggests an intelligently simplified lifestyle that’s been drained of fashion and glamor, as if they are frivolous. What matters most for Theodore, it suggests, is his inner life, as it’s given expression in his conversations with Samantha and the letters he pens for strangers at his job at BeautifulHandcraftedLetters.com. While the depleted physical environment is sad, there’s something bold about it too. It points to a way of living that’s resolutely anti-material.