- Actors: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Mariola Fuentes
- Directors: Pedro Almodóvar
- Writers: Pedro Almodóvar
- Producers: Agustín Almodóvar, Michel Ruben
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Pathe
- VHS Release Date: 24 Feb 2003
- Run Time: 112 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00007LZ6L
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,148 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her is his least stylised, most accessible and arguably greatest movie. Covering the same, highly provocative terrain as Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle and The Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma", Almodovar forges a work that's funny, compassionate, engaging and deeply touching.
Unusually for Almodovar, the emphasis is on the two male characters, with the female leads spending much of the film as "objects" in a vegetative state. Dario Grandinetti plays Marco, a journalist who befriends Lydia (Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter. Following a goring in the ring, she lapses into a coma. At the clinic where she is kept on life support, Marco meets a somewhat effete male nurse, Benigno (Javier Camara) who lovingly tends to a ballet student, Alicia, also chronically comatose. They strike up a friendship, their respective stories emerging through flashbacks. Both, however, respond to their common fate in different ways. Marco is distraught at the loss of Lydia, whereas the dysfunctional Benigno is blissful, tending to Alicia, for whom he nourished an obsession prior to accident. Reduced to being a vegetable, she is fully, unresistingly, his.
It's a tribute to Almodovar that he is able to handle the outlandish, potentially appalling subject matter of Talk To Her with such finesse. Emotionally, it's often on a knife edge; there are moments when you don't know whether to laugh, gasp or sigh. But when ultimately you find yourself welling with tears of sympathy for an alleged rapist, you realise what a master filmmaker Almodovar is.
On the DVD: Talk To Her offers an excellent transfer of a visually handsome movie. Extras are a little disappointing--just trailers for Almodovar's more outlandish Live Flesh and All About My Mother. --David Stubbs
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Talk to Her (Hable con ella) is Pedro Almodovar's sixteenth film as a director. It is difficult to describe the plot of the film as it travels back and forth in time, ranging from intense moments of psychological insight to an amusing silent film sequence, and I would loath to give away any of the entertaining and twisting plot development so characteristic of Almodovar's films. It primarily focuses on the relationship between two men: the antisocial, sexually ambiguous and lovingly charming Benigno (Javier Camara) and stalwart but emotional sensitive Marco (Dario Grandinetti) as they attend their respective women in permanent sleep at the hospital. A chance encounter at the theatre leads to a later encounter where a seemingly casual friendship grows into a desperate bond. Solitude is the predominant theme of this lively, entertaining and provoking film. There are countless moments for the protagonists to contemplate their life and loves alone. Despite its serious subject matter, Almodovar's masterful handling creates an entertaining story filled with wit and humor. The characters possess compelling quirks and are wonderfully realised in a stunning cast. Amazing performances are given from peripheral characters such as the ballerina instructor, Katerina (Geraldine Chaplin) and the caretaker (Chus Lampreave). Meticulous Almodovar fans will enjoy spotting cameo appearances by past stars from his films. This is an intricate and ceaselessly compelling film that should attract a wide mature audience.
The film begins and ends in the theatre. The performances there suitably reflect the dilemmas evoked in the film and the relationships of the men with their women. The fascinating thing about this film is the way that a story between the men is handled on the surface whilst a subconsciouss story is told by the women in their comas. Gradually, through the use of flashbacks, their story emerges and we are led to image what is happening in their heads while in the hospital. It is interesting to note that the silent film sequence was originally written by Almodovar to be made into a full-length silent film. What we are given is a delightful though shocking glimpse of what that would have been. It is touching to see Almodovar's small nod of tribute to Michael Cunningham's The Hours which is a novel he states he really enjoyed. The film characteristically stretches our ideas of high drama and the far-reaching regions of sexuality. This is a beautiful film to follow from Almodovar's internationally successful All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre).
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film by the fantastic director Almodovar is an absolute corker. It is more than your run of the mill love story; you never get just an ordinary plot from him. The story is about two men and their respective loves. Marco is in love with a female bullfighter, who is gored and ends up in hospital. He meets Benigno, a nurse caring for a dancer left in a coma after a car crash. The two men find friendship together; connected by the two women, both in comas. This film will stay with you for years. I, like the previous reviewer, wept at some of the final scenes, because I felt close to these men, and had fallen into their lives completely. Almadovar gives us the perfect ending to the tale, one not entirely unexpected, but perfect nonetheless. The musical score is superb, very fitting the atmosphere. The acting is perfect, especially Benigno. The story is absorbing, weird, funny and sad. Once again, this director has given us a study of human relationships and the twists and turns they go through along the road of life. Treat yourself to this film. Box of chocs, bottle of wine, plenty of kleenex and a good friend.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Almodovar is a genius. Once again he has presented us with a beautiful story about mankind. “Hable con ella” is a completely new film which incorporates many of the elements characteristic of his previous films: loneliness, friendship and unconventional love; mental health; death; hospitals; dancing; reminiscing music; bullfighting; the film/adverts-within-the-film; and above all, very real lovable characters we can empathise with despite their weirdnesses.
Although the plot is very intriguing and keeps you in suspense, and the film is certainly very funny at points, to me, that is not what the film is about. It is about human nature, about finding beauty amongst all the misery and grotesque that life throws at us. It is about being strong and surviving.
The funny punchy dialogue is up to the high standard Almodovar has spoilt us with before. My favourite being the short but hilarious role of Chuz Lampreave as the nosey housekeeper we once met in “Women at the verge of a nervous breakdown”.
If you are an Almodovar’s fan, please don’t miss this one. If this is your first film, this is an excellent introduction to a great director.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Slow, ponderous and implausible...
Well, I must say that this is a director whose works really do not work for me; slow, ponderous, implausible; just the most tedious concentration on the most irrelevant details... Read more
Published 27 days ago by ChrisG
Wonderfully complex exploration of 'what is love?'
My second favorite Almodovar film, after 'All About My Mother'. A moving and complex study of the relationship between two men, and their connection to women in comas. Read more
Published 22 months ago by K. Gordon
"A woman's brain in a mystery, and in this state even more so."
When a man is describing the details of a recent dream to a young woman laid on a bed whilst doing her nails; you assume he's a beautician - but you soon realise that the bed is a... Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2008 by GeekZilla
Buenas Noches
This is the only film I can remember that has ended and left me not knowing what to think. There's something about Marco and Benigno that made me both empathise and despise them at... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2008 by Mr. P. STOREY
An underrated and subtly layered film about love, obsession and...
Here we have four characters: two men and two women. One man is articulate but weak. The other, child-like but determined. Read more
Published on 29 Feb 2008 by Jonathan James Romley
All gloss and not much else.
Beautiful colour (and black and white)photography and an engaging musical score cannot conceal what is to me a script that has more in common with soap opera than a serious... Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2005
Another Almodavar classic
"Talk to Her" follows the tragic paths of four people: Marco and Benigno, Lydia and Alicia. Marco falls in love with Lydia, a female bullfighter, who is gored by a bull. Read more
Published on 14 July 2004 by Penguin Egg
What utter rubbish
I purchased this film after having thoroughly enjoyed the same director's 'All About My Mother'. But this one is nowhere near as good . Read more
Published on 7 July 2004 by "iananderton3"
I changed my mind
The thing that surprised me most about this film is how many of my preconceptions it changed. I had very fixed views about the world prior to this and never thought I could have... Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2004 by Ms. C. Davies
without words
A couple of times I've tried to review this product but whatever I say seems pretty dumb in the light of the superlative and masterful genius of this film. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2003 by F. Mckay
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