Yes, talk! Talking is what relationships are all about! (Well, mostly.) A highly unique concept -- two men with girlfriends in comas, each with very different attitudes about how to treat their now vegetable lovers, i.e., how they talk with them. And it isn't like this film is divisional one way or the other -- men vs. women -- because although Pedro Almodóvar makes it seem as if that is the premise in the beginning of the film, he gradually makes it clear that the need for communication is universal, by having the two main male characters learn to talk to each other. This film is one of those rarities that nearly entirely visually portrays its themes -- heck, it doesn't even need talking to show how important talking is! My favorite scene was set in a prison -- one of the male characters is talking to a (female) prison clerk behind bulletproof glass, and they're having trouble hearing each other, and we have trouble seeing each of them through the glass. What more perfect way to illustrate the necessity of clear communication? I think there may be a lot more to this film than I saw in it, because I focused so heavily on the title and saw everything in the light of talk and nothing else, so this is a film I will need to see more than once.
original title: Hable con Ella
year: 2002
length: 112 min.
rating: 4.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287467/combined
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1 comment:
"Talk To Her" is so exquistely written and subtlely acted that the viewer is invited to justify and excuse the morally reprehensible conduct of its main character. I've read many reviews of this film where the critic does this (or attempts to put the characters actions into some more acceptable "context"). I find myself unable to do this. Cut through Almodovar's high gloss sheen, and what you are left with is this - Beningo (the male nurse at the center of the movie) is a stalker, manipulator, and finally rapist (he rapes and impregnates the comatose object of his obsession). No amount of flowery dialog or mental gymnastics can move me beyond the repulsion I feel for this character or make me think his actions (though repulsive) reveal some greater truth about the human condition. The title, "Talk To Her", is also misleading. The men of this movie do not wish to "talk" to the women in their lives. They wish to objectify them, and put them on some sort of pedistal where they can be looked at and admired. There are no 3-dimensional female characters in the entire movie. It should be re-titled, "Talk At Her". The notion of "Listen To Her" or "Experience Her ("her" in this instance meaning any woman) as a unique, complex individual") is way beyond the scope of these characters or this film. I wish Almodovar had included a strong female character to knock these men out of there self absorbed stupor and clearly reveal to the audience the weak, pathetic men they are. I guess my strong reaction to the movie makes it the best kind of film - one that stirs strong emotion and effect. But, in my case, I cannot endorse "Talk To Her" as a likeable nor enjoyable film.
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