Scarlett Johansson’s most overlooked performance and why it was award season’s persona non grata
In one of Scarlett Johansson’s best roles, you don’t see her face at all.
In 2013’s Her, Johansson is heard only as a voice in a phone. In the sci-fi-tinged emotional drama, Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is recovering from heartbreak when he forms a connection with a chatbot called Samantha. She is essentially an early version of AI, responding to Theodore, listening to him, laughing with him, and eventually their connection becomes romantic.
As a project, Her reflects on loneliness and connection in the modern age, and it felt fitting for Johansson to be part of it. The film is director Spike Jonze’s response to his own divorce. In 2003, Jonze split from Sofia Coppola, and soon after, her film Lost in Translation was widely seen as her take on the situation. Her feels like a counterpart, exploring the same sense of heartache and disconnection. Since Johansson starred in Coppola’s film, having her voice in Her felt especially appropriate.
But as a performance, the actor shines. Removing any ability for physical acting or bodily acting, the task becomes tricky. The only thing she could work with was her voice and her tone, and with only that, she pulls off a tender and nuanced performance with nothing at all. In fact, she pulls off what might be one of her best performances ever, perfectly nailing the romanticism Samantha is viewed with but also the strangeness and cynicism of it all, and the limitation of the bot.
However, because her face was never seen, awards shows didn’t know what to do with her. The film gained plenty of nominations for its writing and directing, but clearly, no one knew how to handle the acting performances when Johansson was off camera the whole time.
It was decided that she was ineligible for the HFPA, or Hollywood Foreign Press Association, ruling her out of the Golden Globes. However, as other awards are ruled by other bodies, she was still eligible for the Sag Awards and Oscars.
But neither nominated her. She received a nod from the Critics’ Choice awards, but beyond that, it seemed that no one wanted to go anywhere near the conflict and mixed opinion as to whether or not she should be allowed to qualify for an acting award, when, technically, it was all just a voiceover.
If you think about animated movies, the actors voicing those creations aren’t up for your classic ‘Best Actor’ or ‘Best Actress’ awards, and so, even though Johansson’s role as Samantha wasn’t an animated bear or anything like that, Her lost out at awards season all because the lines were too blurred to make a clear call.
Despite her voice acting being worthy of accolades, exactly what made it so interesting is also what led to it being ruled out. A shame for her and a shame for the entire movie, but at least it gets its flowers as a true cult-favourite flick.
