Talk
to Her, directed by Pedro Almodóvar,
is a story about love of men for women. On-screen titles tell
us of three pairings. Marco and Lydia, the first pair, are
brought together because Marco (played by Darío Grandinetti)
is a travel writer who gets himself assigned to do a feature
story about Lydia (played by Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter.
Although she does not want a tawdry exposé, she accepts
a ride from him, and then values his friendship when he kills
a snake that her nasty lover has left in her apartment. They
continue to see each other, without an interview, until Lydia
is injured in the bullring and lies in a coma. Marco somehow
feels guilty and visits Lydia in the hospital. Benigno and
Alicia, the second pair, meet one day when Benigno (played
by Javier Cámara) picks up an object that fell out
of the handbag of Alicia (played by Leonor Watling). Previously,
Benigno had been eyeing Alicia at ballet rehearsals from the
window of his apartment across the street, so he chases after
her when she drops the object, hoping to make her acquaintance.
Grateful, she allows him to walk her home, where Benigno learns
that her father is a psychiatrist. Benigno then makes an appointment
with the psychiatrist to be closer to her, and he even shocks
her as she exits towelclad from a shower, while he lingers
in the apartment after his first and only appointment. Subsequently,
she is in an auto accident and lies in a coma for four years.
Benigno decides to become an orderly at the hospital where
she is kept, and he daily takes loving care of her, including
sensual massages. Although Benigno and Marco sit next to each
other at a concert one day, they do not meet until they are
both at the same hospital. Benigno, trying to revive Alicia,
has been talking to her daily, and he urges Marco to do the
same to Lydia. Marco believes that the idea is absurd but
values his friendship with Benigno. In time, Lydia dies, but
Alicia revives. Benigno, in an effort to revive Alicia, decides
to place his sperm into her vagina, although he pretends to
be gay in order to avoid culpability. However, when Alicia
misses two periods, Benigno is implicated in a rape and is
committed to Sevilla Prison, outside Madrid, as a mental patient.
Meanwhile, Alicia miscarries but regains consciousness, just
as Benigno hoped. In a permutation of the Romeo and Juliet
story, Marco fails to tell Benigno of Alicia's revival and
thus is unable to head off Benigno's determination to take
an overdose of pills, committing suicide in order to be nearer
to her. There is a third pairing, also announced by a title,
at the end of the film, yet another tragicomedic touch, which
is quintessentially Spanish according to the director. Talk
to Her points out how the human need for love
can inspire strange and powerful, even obsessive, responses
in those who are unable to receive reciprocation. MH
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