Talk to Her

Composite Score: 87.07

Starring: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Mariola Fuentes, Geraldine Chaplin, Pina Bausch, Roberto Álvarez, Elena Anaya, and Lola Dueñas

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Writer: Pedro Almodóvar

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Romance

MPAA Rating: R for nudity, sexual content, and some language

Box Office: $64.83 million worldwide

My take on Watching This Film:

                Talk to Her is Pedro Almodóvar’s film about two men in love with two women in comas at the same hospital. Benigno (Javier Cámara) is in love with Alicia (Leonor Watling), a woman who practices ballet at the studio across the street from his apartment who has been in a coma since being hit by a car, and Marco (Darío Grandinetti) is in love with Lydia (Rosario Flores), a female matador with whom he has been in a relationship since he sought to write a story on her for his journalism career. The parallels and contrasts between these two unique unrequited loves and the men themselves serves as the basis for a complex narrative about love, men, women, sexuality, agency, and passion. The film won Almodóvar the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and even earned him a nomination for best director. While still melodramatic, it’s perhaps a bit more twisted than some of his other works, and I think that comes from a focus on male protagonists – like in Pain and Glory. The women in this film exist to help him explore the nature of his two male leads, both of whom give strong performances in their roles – Grandinetti as the reserved and wounded Marco and Cámara as the brazen yet tender Benigno – but their stories are much rougher and more visceral than the no less complex but softer stories of Parallel Mothers or Volver. Don’t get me wrong, Talk to Her will certainly still sit with you long after the credits roll, just like any of the Spanish auteur’s films, but I just don’t know if you’ll enjoy the ride as much with this one as with some of his other works. It’s well-written, excellently acted, and contains plenty of meditations on the complexities of the human experience to earn its recognition as one of the greats. I’m still a bit hesitant to say that it’s a must-watch for every fan of film, though. Certainly, fans of Almodóvar have to see it, but if the story and characters don’t sound overly compelling to you, you don’t necessarily have to see it. If you would like to, though, you can currently rent it on YouTube or Fandango.