Talk to Her – (2002; Spanish/subtitles) Clear away the furniture to let this magical story move through the rooms of your mind. Director/writer Pedro Almodóvar’s film brings together two men, Benigno Martín (Javier Cámara) and Marco Zuloaga (Darío Grandinetti), first in the audience of a dance production, later in a hospital with each caring for a coma patient, and finally at a jail.

In a hospital in Madrid for four years Benigno has been a nurse for Alicia Roncero (Leonor Watling), a student of dance before an automobile accident put her into a coma. Marco, a journalist, had been assigned to write an article about Lydia González (Rosario Flores), a sensational female matador, a ballerina of tauromachy. After Marco drives Lydia to her residence and kills a snake in her kitchen, they fall in love; but just before her next bullfight, she tells Marco that she needs to tell him something afterward. At the outset of the bullfight she is badly gored and falls into a coma. A doctor explains to Marco that her cerebral cortex has been destroyed and that she continues to breathe and live, even occasionally opening her eyes through her brain stem’s functioning. While there have been rare miraculous recoveries, the doctor tells Marco that the probability of a brain dead patient such as Lydia ever recovering consciousness is virtually impossible.

Marco recalls his few months with Lydia and how he tried to explain the end of his previous love affair with Angela, a drug addict, whom he took on trips away from Spain, such as to Africa where he killed a snake she found in their tent. Benigno recognizes Marco and invites him in to Alicia’s room. Alicia’s dance instructor Katerina (Geraldine Chaplin) visits Alicia, describing her next ballet project. From his mother’s apartment window Benigno initially saw Alicia in the dance studio below and had a chance meeting with her when he returned to her her wallet dropped from her purse. He then made an appointment for a visit with her father, a psychiatrist, whose office was in the family home where he pocketed a hair clip from her bedroom and caught a glimpse of Alicia coming from her shower. Benigno related his past to Dr Roncero, admitting his virginity and lack of experience with women other than his mother, of the previous ten years during which he had taken exclusive care of his mother and become a professional therapist to properly perform the intimate attentions required, before her recent death. When the doctor asked Benigno why he has come for help, the young man truthfully dissembled in saying loneliness. Later Dr Roncero, believing Benigno to be a homosexual, hired Benigno and his co-worker Matilde to look after his daughter. Benigno advises Marco, who confesses his feelings of helplessness and loneliness, to talk to Lydia, since one can never know the mystery of a woman’s mind.

Benigno tells Alicia of a silent film he’s seen in which the male character drinks a love potion created by his female assistant, inspiring him with ardor for her, but he then begins to shrink into a man so tiny that he enters her body one night through her vagina and remains inside forever. Eight months later in Jordan, Marco receives a letter from Matilde informing him of Lydia’s death and Benigno’s imprisonment. When Marco moves into Benigno’s apartment, the landlady inquires of her former tenant, “Why is he in jail?” Marco replies, “He’s innocent.” “Of course,” says the landlady, “but what’s he innocent of?” Marco looks down into the dance studio from Benigno’s apartment. Though he did most of the talking while Lydia and he were together, in blaming himself he failed to heed Benigno’s advice and lost her; he suffers further guilt for not telling Benigno the truth either. The film concludes with his attending Katerina’s dance production.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .