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Reviewed by Ivana Redwine
Length:
112 minutes Pedro Almodóvar won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for his efforts on the Spanish-language film "Talk to Her." I had previously liked Almodóvar's "All About My Mother" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," so I wasn't surprised when I thoroughly enjoyed watching "Talk to Her" at home on DVD. I guess Almodóvar is thought of as a writer-director whose films will only be liked by art-house audiences, but it seems to me mainstream moviegoers should find "Talk to Her" quite accessible. I had initially thought that the storyline, which involves two men caring for a pair of comatose women, might be depressing, but I did not find that to be the case. I suppose the film is basically a melodrama, but I like the way it incorporates elements of comedy, music, and dance. I found the movie to be quite emotionally involving and generally upbeat. "Talk to Her" is set in Spain, where a fascination with bullfighting is woven into the societal fabric. Marco (Darío Grandinetti) is a forty-something journalist who wants to do an article on a female bullfighter named Lydia (Rosario Flores), a large-nosed thirty-something woman of great sex appeal. Lydia is particularly newsworthy because the public craves details of the breakup of her high-profile romance with a hunky male bullfighter known as the Kid from Valencia. Soon the unattached Marco meets Lydia, and they begin a romantic relationship, even though she is still carrying a torch for the Kid. But Marco knows Lydia for only a few months when she is badly gored by a bull, leaving her in a coma. The comatose Lydia is institutionalized in a private clinic known as "The Forest," where the grief-stricken Marco visits her. There he befriends a pudgy thirtyish male nurse named Benigno (Javier Cámara), who obsessively cares for Alicia (Leonor Watling), a beautiful comatose young woman. Although Alicia was a student in a school of dance across the street from Benigno's apartment, he barely knew her before an auto accident left her in a persistent vegetative state. Now he has devoted the last four years of his life to caring for her. We watch as he gently washes her lovely nude torso and massages the inside of her bare thigh. But it's difficult to tell if Benigno is sexually attracted to Alicia, especially since it seems possible that he may be gay. A bond of friendship grows between Marco and Benigno as each man cares for a comatose woman. There's a fine scene on the clinic's sunny terrace where the two men stand talking while Alicia and Lydia sit propped up in chairs, each comatose woman wearing sunglasses. But the relationships are not static, and I won't spoil your fun by telling you about the unexpected series of events that soon takes the lives of all four characters in surprising directions. While the story in "Talk to Her" is compelling, the movie contains some entertaining sidelights as well. For one thing, there's some footage of performances by Pina Bausch's dance company. For another, singer Caetano Veloso delivers a stunning rendition of "Cucurrucucú Paloma" at a charming private residence, which is in fact the real-life home of filmmaker Almodóvar. And finally, Almodóvar has inserted an amusing short black-and-white silent movie titled "Shrinking Lover" into "Talk to Her." In the silent, the male lover of a female scientist drinks an experimental diet formula and starts shrinking. When she can't find an antidote, he becomes so small that he crawls inside her vagina, where he stays forever. I think the best thing about "Talk to Her" is Almodóvar's inventive and engaging screenplay. Also, I found the movie to be quite cinematic, and I liked the music a lot. I would describe the style of the film as being on the extravagant and melodramatic side, and it ultimately takes a bit of a mystical turn, but I don't see these as negatives. Also, I should warn you that something pretty creepy happens in the movie. But in the end, I found the film quite moving. The "Talk to Her" DVD provides no bonus materials of any consequence, except for a feature-length commentary track where writer-director Almodóvar chatters away. He's a brilliant filmmaker, but I didn't feel I learned much from his commentary here. During his commentary, Almodóvar occasionally exchanges a few words with actress Geraldine Chaplin, who plays a minor role in the film. The commentary is in Spanish, but English subtitles are available. Special Features of the DVD:
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