10 Ways In Which Her And Lost In Translation Are Connected To Each Other
10. The Main Character Is A Surrogate For The Film's Director
In Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte, a young college graduate who is stuck in Tokyo while her husband, John (played by Giovanni Ribisi), goes out to photo shoots with famous rock stars and celebrities. In real life, Spike Jonze directed dozens of music videos and commercials all throughout the '90s and was highly in demand. He dated Sofia Coppola for many years before they married in 1999. That year was also when Coppola's debut film, The Virgin Suicides, was released. Coppola was 29 at that point. It's easy to see how closely Charlotte resembles her. Charlotte had just graduated college the previous Spring and is unsure of what she's doing with her life. Before she embarked on a career as a director, Sofia Coppola dabbled as a model and worked on a number of smaller projects here and there. She also appeared as an actress in a few of her father's films (Francis Ford Coppola). One can easily picture Sofia Coppola, as a young woman, trying different things while still being unsure of what to do with herself. Her, which is the first film Spike Jonze wrote by himself, is about a man who falls in love with an operating system and is on the verge of divorcing his wife, a woman he still very much has feelings for. Throughout the film, Theodore reminisces about his relationship with his ex-wife, Catherine. We see flashbacks of their relationship when both were happy and we see their eventual falling out. When Catherine and Theodore meet to sign the divorce papers, and Theodore admits he's in a romantic relationship with his operating system, Catherine calls him out for being unable to commit to anybody that involves real responsibility. One can easily imagine Theodore Twombly as being a version of Spike Jonze, and the flashbacks resembling his marriage to Sofia Coppola. Catherine's criticisms of Theodore could easily be something Charlotte would say to her husband in Lost in Translation.
