Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7725 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

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

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 5
Spanish
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1
Talk To Her Theatrical Trailer
All About My Mother Theatrical Trailer
Live Flesh Theatrical Trailer
Pedro Almodovar Biography
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
English

Synopsis
Following the success of his 1999 film, ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, Spanish director Pedro Almodovar presents TALK TO HER. Driven by similar themes of fate, destiny, magic, and chance happenings, TALK TO HER is the tale of two men whose lives intertwine unpredictably. Benigno (Javier Camara) is a dedicated nurse working at a special clinic for coma patients. He is responsible for Alicia (Leonor Watling), a student of modern dance who he met only once, four years earlier, before she fell into a coma. Happy, open-minded, and full of hope, Benigno brings an air of joy and love to the clinic. Meanwhile, Marco (Dario Grandinetti), a freelance journalist, has fallen in love with the famous female bullfighter Lydia (Rosario Flores). Though he does his best to be an attentive lover to her, he is haunted by his past, and is unable to step out of his own shell. When Lydia is gored and falls into a coma, placed in the same clinic as Alicia, Marco and Benigno instantly become friends. They are each other's perfect counterpart and it is immediately evident that they need each other and care for each other deeply. But it is not until after they part, and a new aspect of Benigno's personality surfaces, that the strength of their friendship is tested and proven.
Almodovar has created a true work of art with TALK TO HER. Its photography offers one clean colourful setting after another, its musical score is peppered with great moments such as a breathtaking performance of Cucurrucucu paloma by Caetano Veloso, and its inclusion of moving dance performances by Pina Bausch (Cafe Muller and Masurca Fogo) bring an element of abstract sadness and beauty to the film.

Customer Reviews

Subconscious Speech
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).

A Beautiful Film of Love, Loneliness and Friendship. Superb
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.

I wept
Almodovar's previous film, Todo Sobre Mi Madre, left me wrung out like a wet flannel. Critics' reviews had told me that this film was not as strong. They were wrong. I wept uncontrollably, and was eventually thrown out of the cinema by the usherette who wanted to close up.

After watching this film, I felt as though anglophone cinema had nothing to over. Almodovar delivers totally credible, complex characters who are impossible to judge. Javier Cámara's performance as the nurse Benigno is one of the best pieces of acting you are ever likely to see.

Does Almodovar manipulate you? (You won't understand this question until you have seen the film). No more or less intentionally than any other director: he just does it much, much better. My best film of 2002.