Talk to Her (Hable con Ella)

Rating:
Summary: A complex film with an uneasy twist of plot
Review: Talk to Her by Almodovar is really an exceptional film but be warned that the moral issues are disturbing. He does a great job of laying and intertwining the lives and stories of all the characters.

Basically the story is of two men and the relationships they have with two women in comas in a rehabilitation hospital. Marco has been in a stormy passionate relationship with Lydia, a fighter of bulls. Benigno, a mousey timid fellow, is the nurse for a beautiful young dancer who suffered brain injury after being hit by a car.

As Marco suffers with guilt and fear, Benigno urges him to talk to Lydia even if he thinks she can not hear him. What wonderful advice! We have known for the past 100 years, since it was discovered by Freud, that talking can cure. While Marco's relationship with Lydia was full of passion and conflict, Benigno's relationships iwth Alicia, the dancer, is more complex. He lived in the apartment across from her dance studio and came to worship her from afar. After she is hit by a car he becomes an orderly in the hospital where she lays. Benigno comes to totally worship this beautiful unconscious girl. He bathes her and moves all her joints and muscles daily so that her body does not stiffen in her unconscious state.

Then it happens. Alicia becomes pregnant while still unconscious. To say that Almodovar elicits a broad range of emotions from the viewer at this point is an understatement.

The viewer has been led to believe that Benigno is gay but in usual Almodovar style, he is very fluid in the way he characterizes sexuality. His sexuality seems to be constructed by fantasy.

On one side, Benigno's behavior was criminal, it was rape. He had sex with an unconscious women. Yet, we have the uncanny feeling that this timid shy zero nothing of a man was powerless in the presence of the vast beauty of his young patient. To make the issue more complex, after Benigno is imprisoned a series of good events occur as a result of his nursing and his one-sided rationship with Alicia.

Alicia was a double victim. A talented young beauty is struck down and becomes unconscious yet still alive. Then she is sexually violated while unconscious. But is Benigno a monster? He seemed powerless when he was attracted to her beauty before the accident and he placed himself in a situation where her powerful presence eventually resulted in a terrible situation, destructive to all parties involved.

In some ways the behavior of both men, watching carefully over the women they love, reflects man worship of the female. Even in a coma Alicia exerted the power of the beautiful woman. I know that my last comment will spark the ire of some but lets face it, beauty is a form of power.

All About My Mother is the only Almodovar film that I think is better than Talk To Her but both are exceptional films.

Rating:
Summary: Very Compassionate: Another Masterpiece from Almodovar
Review: The film opens with a stage production by an acclaimed choreographer Pina Bausch. A woman, perhaps blind or dazed, wanders around on the stage while a man tries to move chairs and other things not to let her hit them. What does that mean?

You will have your own answer later on, but the film here introduces us two men -- Marco and Benigno, both watching the production as the audiecne. Months later, these two men meet each other at a medical clinic, where Benigno, a nurse working there, is taking care of a comatose woman Alicia. Marco, whose severely injured girlfriend Lydia (and she is also in coma) is now taken to the place, is advised by kind-hearted Benigno to 'talk to her.'

The film tactfully reveals how come Benigno has been nursing Alicia for more than more years, or how Lydia came to be wounded like that. And by the time you see what happen to these four characters in the following chapters, you will why Pedro Almodovar is now thought one of the most accomplished film directors in the world.

The film looks often melodramatic (in a good sense, of course) and sometimes very surreal, but it always is beautiful, and rich in tone. The four actors are all impeccable (plus special guest Geraldine Chaplin), especially Javier Camara as Benigno, and Leonor Watling as ballet dancer Alicia.

There is one comical (and very sexually explicit) black-and-white part called 'Shrinking Lover,' which parodies old silent film style. It is funny, but later you will find that its hidden meanings are so serious; it is shocking, audacious, and even horrible.

And then, you will know that this is an Almodovar film, unconventional, daring, but somehow manages to be compassionate. Though 'Talk to Her' is not his most daring work, it still shows that only Almodovar can tell this bitter-sweet love story, with his taut storytelling skills and confident touch. The film is painful and moving, but finally very rewarding.

Rating:
Summary: Yet another film
Review: that manages to self-destruct. Again, like many of Almodovar's movies,we start out with a fascinating premise, very nice camera work and a decent cast. Then the whole thing quickly takes a sharp turn into bizzaroland and never comes back. And the viewer stops caring. While there's certainly nothing at ALL wrong with artistic and/or deep films, they still, due to the medium, have to be accessible. Habla con Ella is not. Yes the theme is apparent to anyone with a working brain, but that doesn't make it easier to watch. Movies shouldn't ever be so much work unless they're intended for a severely limited audience.

Rating:
Summary: ALMODOVAR's WORST!!!
Review: The only reason this movie gets one star is because it is its lowest rating. I am a HUGE Almodovar fan and I find that this is his WORST MOVIE EVER! It's only saving grace is the small silent movie that is completely out of place in this hideously bad film. I found the acting to be very poor. I cannot understand for the life of me how this movie won two Oscars. If you want to see a truly unique Almodovar film rent "Matador" or "Live Flesh". Even "Kika" is far superior to this piece of trash. Don't waste your money on this garbage.

Rating:
Summary: MOVING!
Review: I found this movie very moving, but slow moving. Nevertheless, a very interesting film. Say what you may about Almodovar, his films are controversial. There is a scene that stays with me, where a guitarist is playing a song that seems to convey the protagonist's feelings. It is an old Mexican song entitled "Coo Coo Roo Coo Coo, Paloma" (or "Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu, Paloma"). I can't seem to find a CD out there that has that song on it, other than the soundtrack of the movie. I'm sure there are some CD's by various artists released with this song. I wish I knew where to get one/them. I'm eager to see what Almodovar comes out with next: "Movie Viewers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"?