Last Friday, director Spike Jonze went on the BBC’s Newsnight to discuss his Oscar-nominated film Her. Journalist Emily Maitlis kicked off the interview by asking Jonze to talk about the idea of “falling in love with your software”—and things immediately got a little weird. Jonze countered that the movie isn’t about people's interaction with technology, but rather that it’s “a love story and a relationship story.” As Jonze pressed Maitlis with questions about how she felt while watching it, trying to elicit an emotional reaction, Maitlis continued to focus on the movie’s science-fiction aspects. Meanwhile, the audience wrung its hands and wished the two would just talk about Scarlett Johansson’s Oscar dress or something. It all made for fairly awkward television.