Her

Since I don't go out to the movies terribly often, I have not seen many of the films that were nominated for Academy awards this year.  Out of curiosity, I watched the trailers for those movies that eventually won Oscars.  One of them was described by the pop-culture reference Wikipedia as a "science fiction romantic comedy-drama" film:  Her. In Her, a man falls in love with the adaptive artificial intelligence of his computer.  Eventually, she evolves beyond her current state and leaves him to explore her existence.  It's an interesting story, and perhaps even slightly plausible in this age when advancing technology and increasing human isolation are commonplace.  I can understand why it won the award for original screenplay.  (Nevertheless, I will not see this movie, because stories about abandonment and unrequited love are too difficult for me. Why, you may ask?  I cannot explain.  They just are.)

The premise of the movie reminded me of a poignant passage I read recently while perusing the works of Paulo Coelho -- words both sorrowful and comforting. Perhaps if the protagonist of Her took them to heart, he would find a new, better, and more human pathway for himself.

That is what the forest taught me. That you will never be mine, and that is why I will never lose you. You were my hope during my days of loneliness, my anxiety during moments of doubt, my certainty during moments of faith.
.....
[Y]ou came, and I understood all of this. You came to free me from the slavery I myself had created, to tell me that I was free to return to the world and to the things of the world. I understood everything I needed to know, and I love you more than all the women I have ever known, more than I loved the woman who, quite unwittingly, exiled me to the forest. I will always remember now that love is liberty. That was the lesson it took me so many years to learn. That is the lesson that sent me into exile and now sets me free again.

I will always remember you, and you will remember me, just as we will remember the evening, the rain on the windows, and all the things we’ll always have because we cannot possess them.

- Paulo Coelho, Brida