Talk To Her

Talk To Her is a Spanish film by director Pedro Almodovar. It follows two men Benigno, and Marco, who both fall in love with women who end up in comas. Benigno falls in love with a dancer named Alicia. He watches her in the dance studio from his apartment across the street. After finally getting to meet her, he sets up a meeting to see her psychiatrist father so that he might get to talk to her once more. It backfires when she walks out of the shower and is frightened from seeing him in her apartment, but this doesn't matter since the next time Benigno sees her she is in a coma from an accident. Being a male nurse, Benigno becomes her private nurse so that he can spend all the time he wants with Alicia. Everyday he has a one sided love life with the motionless woman on the hotel bed.

Benigno takes on Alicias hobbies to feel a stronger connection to her. One of her favorite past times was to watch silent movies. While watching a silent movie on his night off Benigno sits next to a man who is moved to tears by the film. The man he sits next to is Marco. Marco is a travel journalist who was still hurt from a relationship that ended over a decade ago. Yet Marco meets a female bull fighter who he falls in love with. One day Lydia is injured during a bull fight which puts her into a coma.

Benigno recognizes Marco from the theater, and becomes friends with him while he visits Lydia in the hospital. Lydia eventually passes away, and Marco sets off to start writing again. Benigno becomes confused with his feelings after watching a silent movie one night, and rapes Alicia. Alicia becomes pregnant, and the hospital staff finds out it was Benigno. After Benigno is sent to jail Marco returns to help his friend. Marco finds out for Benigno that Alicia has woken from her coma, but the pregnancy had been terminated, but does not tell him. Marco realizes to late that Benigno plans to kill himself, and isn't in time to stop his friend.

The main theme of Talk To Her was detachment. Benigno became detached from reality, not being able to realize that his romance with Alicia was completely one sided. He became detached with the rest of society when he spent all of his life taking care of his sick mother, and then Alicia. Marco felt detached from his relationship with Lydia since he was still dealing with issues from his first love.

Talk To Her was not a feel good movie. The characters were incredibly deep, and easy to empathize with. Even Benigno who was a borderline mentally challenged rapist was still charming. Despite his creepy actions it was easy to see Benigno was basically harmless. Actually, if he hadn't raped Alicia she may have never woken up from her coma.