In this film, 'Her' refers to both Paris, the character of Juliette Janson and the actress playing her, Marina Vlady. The film is a kind of dramatized documentary, illustrating and exaggerating the emotionless lives of characters in the new Paris of the 60s, where commercialism mocks families getting by on small incomes, where prostitution is a money-spinning option, and where people are coldly resigned and immune to the human nightmares of Vietnam, and impending Atomic war.
Around the time of the film's release, Godard explained that he saw advertisers as the pimps who enslave the women to the point where they give their bodies without compunction, because they have been convinced that what they can buy has more potential to bring happiness than does the loving enjoyment of sex. This is a fair assessment, but clearly does not go far enough. Advertising as a whole serves this function for all people, male and female. Many of our consumer desires have no rational explanation.
I must grant Godard the brilliance of the title. In English, "her" is generally a woman and only in rare cases something else (like a ship). He manages to use it in a very ambiguous sense. It is truly unfortunate that this ambiguity cannot be translated completely into English.
Around the time of the film's release, Godard explained that he saw advertisers as the pimps who enslave the women to the point where they give their bodies without compunction, because they have been convinced that what they can buy has more potential to bring happiness than does the loving enjoyment of sex. This is a fair assessment, but clearly does not go far enough. Advertising as a whole serves this function for all people, male and female. Many of our consumer desires have no rational explanation.
I must grant Godard the brilliance of the title. In English, "her" is generally a woman and only in rare cases something else (like a ship). He manages to use it in a very ambiguous sense. It is truly unfortunate that this ambiguity cannot be translated completely into English.