Review of Talk to Her (2002) by Elvira B — 03 Apr 2008

The first time I watched Talk to Her I fell asleep. We developed a hate relationship, that is until I decided to give it a second chance. This time I found out what I'd been missing (while I was asleep) and I loved it.

Marco and Benigno are stuck in a hospital, each watching over a woman he loves. The women areLidia and Alicia , and they are both in a comma. Benigno is also a nurse in the hospital, and he advocates himself to caring for Alicia as if she was awake. Above all, he talks to her. Marco can hardly bear to touch Lidia.

Marco and Benigno develop a very intimate friendship -unashamed, sincere, deeply understanding, like one could only dream of ever being able to find. They find solace in each other, and they share their hope for a miracle. One day Benigno finds a way to accomplish the miracle (I really didn't see it coming, it was marvelous, although bizarre) and their bond is put to the test.

I don't know if Talk to Her is a film about intimacy, love, or friendship- I guess they can all be taken for the same thing. Talk to Her concerns different feelings, desires, people, connections. They go through the process of dying to wake another one up, and so on. I could almost say it's a whole conception of life.

Almodovar is more versatile than he is given credit for: his films seem to be about neurotic women and transvestites, and they all seem to be heavy or confusing, but Talk to Her is light as air, not lightheaded, but llight, developed so brilliantly that I could never feel the weight of the drama, just the exhilarating emotionality of it all.

Marco and Benigno live through the process of waking up and falling back into comma more intensely than just through their girlfriends. Parallelisms are drawn between that and all other aspects of their existence. All actors and actresses do amazing jobs, even if asleep. Geraldine Chaplin brings with her the fairy dust that she has so often sprinkled on Spanish cinema throughout the years, and Paz Vega and Fele Martinez become actors in a very fearless silent film that only Almodovar could have made work.

Beautiful beautiful beautiful.