Filmed Love Letters: The Dialogism and Intertextuality of Lost in Translation and Her

Abstract

Lost in Translation (2003), written and directed by Sofia Coppola, and Her (2013),
written and directed by Spike Jonze, display an intertextual, dialogic conversation that
reflexively highlights their friendship, marriage, and divorce in their own lives to create
a conversation between the two films. Both films ruminate on the nature of
relationships as they begin and end, and they remind the viewer of the deeply personal
connections between the films and their respective creators. At the same time, the
reflexivity of the directors’ prior relationship reveals a working conversation between
the films about how each writer and director look at relationships as it relates to their
own experiences. Their utterances produce a dialogue in the form of filmed letters—
both begging to understand, reflect, and grow from their relationships. Both films
explore the emotions experienced by their main characters while they deal with either
impending or past divorces that coincide with new loves and partners. Jonze and
Copolla’s public and private relationship with each other are reflected in their respective
films; the writing, settings, soundtracks, and cinematography reveal a dialogic
conversation between the two filmed letters that both ask questions and begin to
produce their answers to understand the complicated nature of love and relationships.
Looking at the films’ forms and considering theories of dialogism and intertextuality
from Mikhail Bakhtin, the conversation becomes discernible. The resulting
conversation between Lost in Translation and Her arrives at the same conclusion:
love is ephemeral, emotional, and ultimately the binding force between everyone.