Talk to Her

Talk to Her is about friendship and love, and even though Pedro Almodóvar reins in his fondness for provocation, bizarre existences and grotesque plotlines in this melodrama, we are unmistakably in Almodóvar-land. This applies particularly to a couple of detours from the main story, where his imagination is allowed to bubble over freely.

Benigno loves Alicia, and Marco loves Lydia. The problem is simply that neither Alicia nor Lydia can return the men's love, for they are both lying in a coma. The question, then, is also whether they would actually love Benigno and Marco respectively if they could.

Without it ever becoming confusing, Almodóvar jumps around in time and space to tell the background to these two tragicomic love stories. Benigno is a lovable nurse, but also something of an oddball. From his flat he can watch the beautiful Alicia dancing through the panoramic windows of the ballet school, and he sets his heart on her. After the accident, Benigno is employed to look after Alicia, whom he talks to as if she were alive. Gradually it becomes impossible for Benigno to suppress his love for Alicia, and that has tragic consequences.

The journalist Marco has only been going out with the female star bullfighter Lydia for six months when she is gored almost to death in the arena. After the accident, Lydia's ex-boyfriend turns up and casts doubt on Lydia's feelings for Marco.

Marco and Benigno strike up a close friendship, but despite strenuous efforts Marco cannot help Benigno out of the humiliating situation he has got himself into. It ends in tragedy, but the film nevertheless closes with a tribute to Benigno's optimism.