Review of Talk to Her (2002) by Daniel K — 26 Jan 2009

Opens with a modern theatrical dance production, it is strangely but beautifully choreographed. Among the audience Marco is moved to tears next to him Benigno is seated. They are strangers to each other at that moment, but little do they know that months later they will be best friends. Benigno is a male nurse and caring for a comatose young ballerina Alicia, whom Benigno years before had fallen in love with, all the while Marcos girlfriend Lydia has been committed to that same hospital where Benigno works. Lydia also in a comatose state due to a terrible bullfighting gone badly.

Talk to Her mixed the pain of loneliness and loss with the joy of friendship. Benigno is probably one of the loneliest characters I've ever seen on screen, and though he later on does something so terrible it's plain as day to see his intensions and how his loneliness shines through, it heartbreaking to hear an adult man with tears in his eyes say to his only friend "I would like to give you a hug Marco...I haven't hugged many people" and not being able to. It's amazing that a movie with colors so warm in tone (The Spanish landscape and culture) turns out to be so emotional and at the same time makes you smile so much at the end as Marco and Alicia meet at the theatre. Throughout the movie there's a number of sequences that shifts from the original tone of the movie and also goes back and forth in time like a short black and white silent film, almost like a little movie with the movie, or the almost erotic like state in which Lydia fits into her ceremonial costume in preparation for her bullfighting. Surprisingly these scenes fit very well with the emotional state of the characters and could almost be described as magical moments that present the psychological state of Marco, Benigno and Lydia.

Talk to Her is director Pedro Almodovars most accomplished and most unforgettable film.