Talk to her = Hable con ella

Spain, 2002

Film
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Pedro Almodovar’s 14th feature, a tragic drama, is a paean to male friendship, longing and desire. Benigno is a male nurse dedicated to caring for a beautiful young ballerina, Alicia, comatose in the hospital where he works. A series of flashbacks reveal that Benigno’s obsession had earlier incarnations as he watched Alicia study dance from his gloomy flat. Simultaneously, a famous bullfighter, Lydia, is recovering from a broken affair when a new man, Marco, enters her life. Marco and Benigno’s paths become entangled and the two men seek ways to aid the other through several difficult moral dilemmas. Like the acclaimed “All about my mother” (1999), “Talk to her” is a film about relationships, the human desire to connect to others and the bonds formed through tragedy and grief. It is also a film that revels in ritual - dance, dressing, and undressing, nursing, bullfighting - many elements of the narrative are drawn from a sense of rite and ceremony in everyday life. A lyrical and compassionate film, “Talk to her” has traces of Almodovar’s surrealist past, with a splendid six-minute silent film, an interlude that celebrates man’s devotion to woman. Cast includes Javier Camara, Dario Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Rosario Flores and Geraldine Chaplin.

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