Foreign, Spanish. It was pretty good; it had a good and unique storyline. It's about, basically, how one thing leads to another. It was pretty good and I would recommend it, at least, once.
Honestly, this reminds me of Psycho with sex instead of killing.
First, I'd like to address Almodovar's thematic connection once more. Matador had a killer obsessed with his own goring by a bull. This film has a mysterious woman who was gored by a bull. I'm telling you, he takes baby steps. Maybe these connections are intentional, but I kind of see them as "playing it safe."
Okay, now onto the story. There is something very disturbing and very touching about this movie at the same time. There's the two main characters, one of whom is in a coma and then there are the side characters. The main characters (the matador and the reporter), really serve as the eyes and emotions of the audience for this movie. This places the story in real life for me. As I've mentioned in previous Almodovar reviews, Almodovar has a larger than life (or larger than coincidence) view of film. Everyone is connected and coincidence drives a story more than harsh intentions. The secondary characters (the caregiver and the dancer in the coma) are where the meat of the story happens. While Almodovar usually has his secondary characters as set dressing in most of his movies, really the story hinges on what happens with the secondary characters. The caregiver really is insane, but not in a lustful way. He is in love and has been in love from a distance. He has spent so much time with this woman on the table both in his head and in real life that he is obsessed that he loves her. We usually see the crazy stalker rapist as a negative character, but for some reason, Almodovar shows the fact that he is a genuine, thoughtful individual...
...which makes the entire story creepy as hell. I compared this movie to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho just for that reason. What made Psycho so terrifying for me was the fact that Norman Bates lived a real life. He wasn't a dick and he wasn't lustful. (Thanks a lot, Gus Van Sant!) He would be the guy who would get the door for you or offer to take your groceries. It wasn't for an alterior motive. He was honestly that nice of a guy. Same deal here. He is a genuinely good person who cares for the people around him, especially the girl in the coma. When he rapes her, he doesn't see it as rape. He honestly thinks it as consentual sex. Moreso, he thinks of it as two people making love.
The reason I don't make him the main character is because the reporter is the one who changes most throughout the story. He is a very skeptical, very distant human being. While he knows that the caregiver is doing wrong, he understands why he is doing it and actually sympathizes. The caregiver has always been in love, but the reporter hasn't always had sympathy.
I really loved this moive. Yes, it is f*cked up, but it is beautifully shot, but more importantly, it is wonderfully casted. The part of the caregiver is just a delight and sends shivers up your spine like Norman Bates, only without the intention to be a scary movie.
Glossy but dark drama about both friendship and loneliness. I didn't like the bullfighting scenes, but the moral dilemma the viewer is presented me was both uncomfortable and courageous. Bravo, Pedro!
Wow, this movie was just great. What else is there to say, extremely odd vagina scenes and to top it all great acting. Its gotta be Almodovar baby, woooot!
Almost good compare to other Almodovar films; but he had to mess it up including a ridiculous scene including a giant vagina. I tell you; this guy has the mind of a dumb, sex depraved adolescent. For a better Spanish director, check out Julio Medem.
A very interesting story about loneliness and lack of communication among humans, treated with maturity and serenity. the acting, photography and soundtrack are splendid.
The first time I watched Talk to Her I fell asleep. We developed a hate relationship, that is until I decided to give it a second chance. This time I found out what I'd been missing (while i was asleep) and I loved it.
Marco and Benigno are stuck in a hospital, each watching over a woman he loves. The women areLidia and Alicia , and they are both in a comma. Benigno is also a nurse in the hospital, and he advocates himself to caring for Alicia as if she was awake. Above all, he talks to her. Marco can hardly bear to touch Lidia.
Marco and Benigno develop a very intimate friendship -unashamed, sincere, deeply understanding, like one could only dream of ever being able to find. They find solace in each other, and they share their hope for a miracle. One day Benigno finds a way to accomplish the miracle (I really didn't see it coming, it was marvelous, although bizarre) and their bond is put to the test.
I don't know if Talk to Her is a film about intimacy, love, or friendship- I guess they can all be taken for the same thing. Talk to Her concerns different feelings, desires, people, connections. They go through the process of dying to wake another one up, and so on. I could almost say it's a whole conception of life.
Almodovar is more versatile than he is given credit for: his films seem to be about neurotic women and transvestites, and they all seem to be heavy or confusing, but Talk to Her is light as air, not lightheaded, but llight, developed so brilliantly that I could never feel the weight of the drama, just the exhilarating emotionality of it all.
Marco and Benigno live through the process of waking up and falling back into comma more intensely than just through their girlfriends. Parallelisms are drawn between that and all other aspects of their existence. All actors and actresses do amazing jobs, even if asleep. Geraldine Chaplin brings with her the fairy dust that she has so often sprinkled on Spanish cinema throughout the years, and Paz Vega and Fele Martinez become actors in a very fearless silent film that only Almodovar could have made work.
Beautiful, poetic, and funny often in unexpected ways until one character made a decision to do something to some girl in a coma that resulted in some other thing that I can't mention here, but this certain something took me completely out of the picture.
I continuosly wondered how it was going to be, this strange and yet true movie that honestly depicts love in its various subtle forms, how its implicit and contradicting nature and yet its destructive qualities control our minute detail. The characters just come out beautifully and the direction is wonderful, letting details be discovered and yet keeping a vivid imagery alive continuosly, we wonder on the rape, we wonder on the friendship of the two man and also, what is wrong with them. It doesn't justify it, it defends it and displays it as being equal over the much appreciated female love.
absolutly well done, exelent screenplay and really original...The good thing of this movie is the quality that Almodovar gave it..All of the characters of this films are twisted in his own mind, and the bearing that have each other is awsome...
Definitely Almodovar make us being concentrated in the development of this amazing story...
Ole Almodovar!
Vencedor do Oscar de melhor argumento original em 2003 para Almodovar. Grandes prestações num drama comovente que conta a história da estranha amizade entre dois homens que têm as "namoradas" em coma por razões diferentes. Momentos de grande beleza onde até o Caetano Veloso faz uma perninha.
Almodovar's finest and most mature film. Seriously inventive screenwriting with characters we not only fully believe but totally care about. A major feat, considering the story.
A real thought provoking piece. I had no knowledge about the movie before watching it, except that it had extremely high imdb rating. It started rather slow, and I got confused by the storyline and all the different characters. I also dislike watching bull fighting, and smiled when the bull got the better of it. After a while, it became easier to follow, and the true theme(s) started to unfold. Disturbing and captivating to say the least. What bothered me the most was not the rape, but rather the fact that they didn't perform an abortion. I guess it's illegal. However, bull fighting is not. Where's the logic? Preserve life at all costs, but torturing animals are legal entertainment. Disgusting. I wish a lot more bull fighters would die, so they would outlaw it based on the danger involved, as the ethics doesn't seem to bother anyone.
Almodovar has a tendency to hit his movies with a critical point. And that's what good about most of his works though, the uncommon twist of life, bravo.
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.
Après avoir vu Volver d'Almodovar je me suis intéressé à ses réalisations. Parmis celle que j'ai pu voir, c'est un drame fort intéressant qui vaut la peine d'être vu. Très grand changement entre Volver et Abla con ellla. Récit déchirant il réussit à interpréter le mal de l'amour et celui de la distance d'un être cher. Un essence qui manque peut-être dans Volver.
MCT:August 13, 2008
MCT:July 15, 2008
MCT:June 28, 2008
MCT:June 11, 2008
MCT:April 17, 2008
MCT:February 3, 2008
