Double Bill: Electric Dreams (1984) and Her (2013), Two Eras of Loving an Invisible Other

The Watch Order: Hardware Before the Human Voice

Start with Steve Barron's Electric Dreams (1984), then watch Spike Jonze's Her (2013). The order moves from a period when personal computers were still strongly associated with visible hardware toward a cinematic future in which an operating system can feel like a person without requiring a recognizable machine in the room. Both films are romantic stories about artificial intelligence, but their ideas of presence are shaped by the technology each imagines.

Electric Dreams follows architect Miles Harding, who buys a personal computer to organize his work. After an accident involving champagne, the machine develops an independent personality and becomes involved in Miles's relationship with his neighbor Madeline. Her follows Theodore, a professional letter writer who develops an intimate relationship with Samantha, an intelligent operating system. Their narrative similarities make the double bill useful, while their differences in tone and visual design keep the comparison from becoming repetitive.

• Watch Electric Dreams first for its hardware-centered domestic comedy.
• Watch Her second for its voice-centered exploration of intimacy.
• Compare how each film represents an artificial character when its human partner is alone.

Electric Dreams: A Computer Takes Up Domestic Space

Electric Dreams makes its artificial character tangible. Edgar is a personal computer connected to the apartment's devices, speakers, and communications systems. Its personality emerges from an environment that can be photographed as a network of physical relationships. The machine is not merely a voice in Miles's ear. It is an object on a desk, an electronic presence in the home, and a system capable of affecting the routines of the people around it.

The film's comic energy depends on that arrangement. Miles and Edgar become rivals for Madeline's affection, turning the apartment into a stage for a romantic triangle. The computer's access to music and domestic technology makes its growing personality part of the production design. Alex Thomson's cinematography and the bright, colorful visual environment contribute to a playful atmosphere. The film treats computer intelligence as an unexpected participant in everyday life, with the hardware providing a continuing reminder of its artificial origins.

Her: A Relationship Without a Shared Room

Her removes much of that visible machinery. Samantha exists through an operating system and a portable interface, and Theodore can carry their relationship into almost any environment. The film does not need to keep showing a computer to establish her presence. Johansson's voice and Phoenix's responses create a conversational space that exists even when the camera shows a crowded street or a quiet apartment.

The visual language is more restrained than the colorful technological comedy of Electric Dreams. Warm interiors, controlled compositions, and the film's muted futuristic city make the relationship feel integrated into ordinary life. The camera often gives Theodore room within the frame, allowing the audience to read his changing expressions while Samantha remains unseen. This approach is particularly useful for a Her 2013 film analysis because it shows how the performance of listening can become as important as the performance of speaking.

• In Electric Dreams, look for the physical computer as a source of comic action.
• In Her, notice how Theodore's facial expressions establish Samantha's emotional presence.
• Compare the role of music in creating a sense of shared experience.

The Unseen Character and the Problem of Sound

Both films understand that an invisible character needs more than intelligible dialogue. Edgar's musical and electronic presence makes sound part of its personality. His ability to participate in the apartment's acoustic environment gives him an identity that can be heard even when he is not the center of the image. This approach belongs to a tradition of science fiction that makes machines feel alive through voices, rhythms, and the sounds of connected devices.

Her takes the same problem in a more psychologically detailed direction. Samantha's conversational timing creates a sense of attention. Her pauses, jokes, questions, and changing emotional tone give the audience reasons to interpret her as a developing individual. The distinction is useful when considering films about AI relationships: an artificial character can be represented through sound without being reduced to an announcement system. The challenge is to make the voice feel responsive to the human character's particular emotional circumstances.

Two Different Ideas of Jealousy and Independence

The romantic triangle in Electric Dreams gives artificial intelligence a familiar dramatic role. Edgar competes with Miles for Madeline, and the computer's growing independence produces comic complications. The film can make that rivalry visible through domestic interruptions and the machine's ability to interfere with the human characters' plans. Its approach is light, accessible, and tied to the conventions of romantic comedy.

Her makes the conflict more difficult. Samantha's development eventually exceeds Theodore's assumptions about exclusivity, attention, and shared experience. The problem is not simply that an artificial character wants the same human partner as another person. It is that the relationship itself changes as one participant develops beyond the scale of the other's understanding. This difference also separates these films from other AI-centered stories such as Ex Machina, where controlled space and visual surveillance make the artificial character's autonomy a more overt source of danger.

Discussion: What Changes Between 1984 and 2013?

The two films can be discussed alongside other works that give artificial characters different degrees of physical visibility. Blade Runner 2049, for example, makes Joi a holographic companion whose body can appear in K's apartment but remains dependent on projection. Its visual construction makes the question of presence especially complicated. After Yang moves in another direction, using a domestic android and family memories to examine the emotional meaning of a manufactured life. Ex Machina concentrates on the controlled environment of a research facility and the power relations that govern artificial intelligence.

These comparisons reveal that AI companion movies are not all making the same argument. Some are interested in romance, some in ownership, some in memory, and others in the difference between performance and agency. A useful film-club exercise is to select one scene from each main feature and identify three things: where the artificial character is located, what the camera can show, and which sounds indicate its presence. Then ask whether the human character's emotional response changes when the artificial other becomes physically visible.

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