Product Details

• Actors: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Mariola Fuentes
• Directors: Pedro Almodóvar
• Writers: Pedro Almodóvar
• Producers: Agustín Almodóvar, Michel Ruben
• Format: PAL
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007LZ6L

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Writer-director Pedro Almodóvar makes another masterpiece with Talk to Her, his first film since the wonderful All About My Mother. Marco (Dario Grandinetti) is in love with Lydia (Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter who is gored by a bull and sent into a coma. In the hospital, Marco crosses paths with Benigno (Javier Camara), a male nurse who looks after another coma patient, a young dancer named Alicia (Leonor Watling). From Benigno's gentle attentiveness to Alicia, Marco learns to take care of Lydia... but from there, the story goes in directions that deftly manage to be sad, hopeful, funny, and creepy, sometimes at the same time. The rich human empathy of Almodóvar's recent films is passionate, heartbreaking, intoxicating--there aren't enough adjectives to praise this remarkable filmmaker, who is at the height of his powers. Talk to Her is superb, with outstanding performances from all involved. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

In Pedro Almodóvar's odd but touching romantic drama, two very different men are drawn together by a common task: taking care of women who have fallen into a coma. Benigno (Javier Cámara), a shy, seemingly asexual young male nurse, looks after Alicia (Leonor Watling), a beautiful ballet dancer. Marco (Darío Grandinetti), a fortyish Argentine writer, becomes the lover of a fierce, long-waisted female bullfighter (Rosario Flores). After she is gored in the ring, she never speaks again. Both love affairs are touched by fantasy. Almodóvar's point appears to be that you can't have love without fable-that every love affair is an improbable narrative wrung from non-being and loneliness. The movie is shot in a new, subdued style for the director: past and present flow together, and everything seems touched with a melancholy magic. Two ballets by the choreographer Pina Bausch are integral to the film's themes. In Spanish. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subconscious Speech, August 28, 2002

By 

Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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).

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tell Her you Love Her, December 31, 2002

By 

MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Pedro Almodovar has something different up his sleeve with his newest, "Talk to Her." Whereas in the past his concerns have been almost exclusively with a woman's mindset as in "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" or "All About My Mother," "Talk to Her" is about men and their inability to communicate, open up to their loved ones. Of course, being that Almodovar is a Spaniard, Machismo plays a big part in the world in which he lives, but here he is looking for the Universal; the things that bind us all together as Mankind. And what would seem a pretty basic theme in most directors' hands becomes in Almodovar's, a difficult, sympathetic and plaintive treatise rife with complexity and turmoil. Almodovar is never out for the easy fix. As one of the leads (Benigno played by Jose Camara), who has no problem showing his emotions, says to his counterpart (Marco played by Dario Grandinetti):"Talk to her...a woman's likes to feel that she is cared for and cherished." (paraphrase)
As sometimes happens in life, these two disparate men become friends; the one coaching the other on the ways and means of understanding how to deal with what is not only in front of our eyes but also what is out there in the cosmos.
Almodovar's world is usually a hard candy colored world of zany characters, blatant sexuality and pure fun, but in "Talk to Her," as in "All about my Mother" his palette is subdued, his mise-en-scene still and quiet. With age, he has become not only more introspective but also wiser.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ballerina & Male Nurse, Female Matador & Writer & Silence, July 17, 2003

By 

Enrique Torres "Rico" (San Diegotitlan, Califas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Talk to Her (Hable con Ella) (DVD)

Another in a long line of outstanding Almodovar movies this flick does not dissapoint fans of his outlandish look at life. There are plenty of plot analysis reviews, controversy and interpretations so look around for the "right" one. What would a Almodovar movie be without ruffling a few feathers? The essence of the movie involves the lives of four people, two couples in love(one in a bizarre one way romance) where there are two women who end up in comas. It is a well done movie. There is a movie within a movie that is excellent, done in black and white in old silent movie style. The set designs in the black and while silent are magnificent and reveal a tragic love story where the "little man" (he takes a potion) makes the ultimate sacrifice to prove his love. This sequence is in itself worth viewing the movie. Besides the cinema itself the added features to the DVD are super. I thoroughly enjoyed Pedro Almodovar and Geraldine Chaplin as they discussed the whole movie as it plays without dialogue, explaining details and revealing unnoticed situations that may have been missed by just watching the movie. Their excitement over the results of their labor are infectous. Whatever you do watch the directors commentary version AFTER you have viewed it once. The performance by Caetano Veloso is outstanding as he sings an incredible version of "CuCu RuCu Cu Paloma " and is so good you'll be tempted to buy the soundtrack. Almodovar admits in the discussion of the film that he is not the same director from the 80's or 90's so if you are expecting the old Almodovar he has moved on. He has evolved and matured but continues to push peoples buttons in even more provocative ways. So is the movie funny like some of the older movies? Yes and no, there are moments where the ridiculous though somber scenes hit on both sides of the pendulum. The acting by the cast is very, very good, especially Beningo the male nurse who is a sordid character. His transformation from being an effeminate male nurse to a "tougher" type in prison is a thing of beauty; it is like two different people. You will ultimately be the judge of this movie but if you like Almodovar more than likely you will enjoy this movie where everything comes together for your viewing pleasure.