by Allan Fish
(Spain 2002 112m) DVD1/2
Aka. Hable con Ella
Nothing is simple
p Esther Garcia d/w Pedro Almodóvar ph Javier Aguirresarobe ed José Salcedo m Alberto Iglesias art Antxón Gómez cos Sonia Grande
Javier Cámara (Beningno Martin), Dario Grandinetti (Marco Zuloaga), Leonor Watling (Alicia), Rosario Flores (Lydia González), Geraldine Chaplin (Katerina Bilova), Mariola Fuentes (Rosa), Paz Vega, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Cecilia Roth,
At the time of its release, response to Almodóvar’s truly unique personal drama was rather mixed. Those who liked it loved it, while others were more lukewarm, perhaps driven away by a plotline that could be read as a little creepy by many. Perhaps they expected, even wanted, another All About my Mother, his previous success. Talk surprised everyone, as it was furthest from his earlier kitsch than any of his films had been, and was in every way a complete departure.
Two men, Marco and Benigno, happen to sit together at the ballet one evening. Marco doesn’t notice Benigno, but he himself is noticed. Marco is next seen watching a TV programme on which a female bullfighter, Lydia, is questioned about her love life and storms off. He decides he wants to interview her for a magazine, meets her in a bar and, after an impromptu rescue from her house involving a snake, becomes a close friend of hers. Sadly, Lydia is put into a coma after an accident in the bullring, and Marco stays loyally at her bedside and, while at the hospital, meets Benigno, who is a nurse at the hospital catering for another comatose patient, Alicia, who has been in a coma for four years. The two men’s loyalty to their unconscious charges brings them close together and changes their lives forever.
One thing’s for sure with Almodóvar, one must always expect the unexpected. Talk is truly, in every sense, a mood film, not just the mood of the film or even the mood of the characters, but that of the audience. In truth it takes a few viewings to take in its nuances because it dares you to break down your own prejudices. It dares you to find such a tale disturbing and creepy, but to like the characters in spite of it. Conventional morality must be checked in at the door along with your preconceptions. If you allow it in, as it were, Talk is one of the more moving experiences you will have in the cinema, and the almost subliminal emotion experienced by Marco as he watches either a singer or a dancer provokes such a response from the audience. At times it’s uncannily reminiscent in tone of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and the unforgettable moment in that film when Naomi Watts and Laura Harring are so affected by Rebecca del Rio’s ‘Llorando’, and not just because of the Spanish link. By the end you find yourself as affected as Marco by what you have witnessed and feel that the almost synchronicity displayed in the characters’ fates is entirely justified.
What perhaps most entrances about the film, however, is the eye for detail in both the direction and performances. There’s a magical shot late in the film when Marco comes to visit Benigno in jail and Benigno is talking. It seems on screen as if Marco is talking because Benigno’s reflection has superimposed itself over Marco in the glass dividing them, as if hinting at the connection between these two men; or in the loving affection of Beningno’s intimate but affectionate handling of Watling’s naked but dormant body. The performances of Watling, Camara and, particularly, Grandinetti are truly immaculate, while the appearances of such stars as Roth, Paredes, Vega and Anaya add an additional spice. Particularly Vega in the most audacious sequence of all, a fictional silent movie which may seem to take the film off on a tangent, but which is so accurate in its doffing the hat to Murnau – a homosexual director like Almodóvar – and in the décor to Dreyer’s Mikaël (a film about homosexuality) as to be quite eerie. Not to mention surreal in the sequence where a miniature man climbs over Vega’s naked body and climbs into her vagina. Only Pedro could dare, let alone do it so stylishly.
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Almodovar’s greatest film, and a film that should rightfully be in the top 10 or 15.
But these are Allan’s wishes.
YES, YES, I MUST agree with SAM on this one. I can think of NO OTHER film that has moved me more than this, Almodovar’s MASTERPIECE, in this ENTIRE decade. I know this is Allan’s count, and I respect his opinion, but I can question it as is my right, and I must say that the placement of this particular film at No. 55 is a little puzzling. I mean was Allan unaffected by the deep emotions that run through this? Was the dynamic pacing, creative flashbacks, abstract dream sequences so much bested by other films this decade? I guess so. In any case, I remember seeing this film with Sam one summer night not knowing a thing about it before the projector kicked to life. I’ll just say this: I HAVE IT AT No. 2 OF THE DECADE! Good Essay.
P as always, Allan.
A good essay, but I must agree with Sam and Dennis on this one. It’s my favorite Almodovar and one of my top 20 of the decade.
It’s great all around, but that silent movie is one of those magical little moments that can elevate a truly great movie to a masterpiece (though in my eyes, this film has a few of those moments).
Always amazing to read about films I have never seen nor heard about.
Thanks!
COFFEEMESSIAH-Don’t wait. Run, don’t walk. Get to the local Blockbuster or throw this title to the top of your Netflix list ASAP. The emotions, richly dark humor, and inventive twists of this film emote like the singing of a great tenor. One characters story brilliantly overlap with the others and amidst the bizarre naqture of the proceedings a profoundly real study of true love emmerges miraculously. I don’t often use phrases or sentences like my next one but, upon my first viewing of this film, I was LEFT SPEECHLESS. Almodovar uses every trick in his personal arsenal, the touches that make his movies so wierdly distinctive, and then turns the gas up on highly mature dramatics to, effectively deliver a film that feels and looks like no other in his canon. The result is a film that has never left my mind. Like a good short story by Hemingway or Steinbeck, its structure is seemingly normal but reveals everything but. I don’t just like TALK TO HER.. I LOVE this movie.
I agree with Sam et al — this is a superb film and certainly my favorite Almodovar film. Every aspect of this film is deserving of highest praise. All About My Mother pales in comparison.
Hello my very good friend! I knew you would come to the defense of this one, as you have great taste and have long revered this great artist.
There is a giddy kinkiness that usually pervades Almodovar’s films that, although here, is muted in such a way that its only felt and never seen. This is absolutely the directors most dramatic and mature work to date (in my mind only VOLVER comes close to this feeling), and he’s working with all cylinders churning at fullest speed. The inventive and reflective screenplay (by the director no less) is given the fullest respect by the performers and, not surprisingly, they all bring their A game knowing who is behind the camera calling the shots. This film should have nominated for BEST PICTURE (THE PIANIST, THE HOURS could easily been sacrificed). No matter, Pedro snagged BEST SCREENPLAY. Just thinking of this film makes me smile. 🙂
Dennis,
It’s on my ever expanding list of films to see.
Due to the seasons out here, many more are watched in the winter months.
I’m glad to hear about the ones that escape the wandering eyes of those even in the art houses out here.
Cheers!
I will rectify this immediately Michael.
This is a fantastic film, and one I figured Allan would place much higher, if anything that just makes me happy meaning there will be at least another unheralded one in the top 50.
I also assume this is the last Almodovar we’ll see, unless there is a shared affection for any of his films that came after this one. I like them all, but probably like this one the best, so I’m doubting it.
This is tour de force Allan: “There’s a magical shot late in the film when Marco comes to visit Benigno in jail and Benigno is talking. It seems on screen as if Marco is talking because Benigno’s reflection has superimposed itself over Marco in the glass dividing them, as if hinting at the connection between these two men; or in the loving affection of Beningno’s intimate but affectionate handling of Watling’s naked but dormant body. The performances of Watling, Camara and, particularly, Grandinetti are truly immaculate, while the appearances of such stars as Roth, Paredes, Vega and Anaya add an additional spice. Particularly Vega in the most audacious sequence of all, a fictional silent movie which may seem to take the film off on a tangent, but which is so accurate in its doffing the hat to Murnau – a homosexual director like Almodóvar – and in the décor to Dreyer’s Mikaël (a film about homosexuality) as to be quite eerie. Not to mention surreal in the sequence where a miniature man climbs over Vega’s naked body and climbs into her vagina. Only Pedro could dare, let alone do it so stylishly.”
And it speaks to your ability that you could write something this fantastic, this evocative for a film that you find 54 better then in (just) a ten year span.
It (that passage) reminded me of something in a Don DeLillo book (‘Cosmopolis’) I’ve been reading, not sure why: “He scanned its length and felt connected to it, sharing the surface and the environment that came into contact with the surface, from both sides. A surface separates inside from out and belongs no less to one than the other. He’d thought about surfaces in the shower once .”
JAMIE-I doubt very much Almodovar will show again in this count. In fact, because TALK TO HER is so good, everything that followed (and all of these were good as well) just looked like shit in comparison. Almodovar set the bar so high ON HIMSELF that he’s doing cartwheels to try to top it. VOLVER, BAD EDUCATION are wonderful films. But, they just fall short to TALK TO HER. Matter of fact, his earlier films, including ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, don’t even match up with this. Glad to see you and I agreeing on a film for a change. I liked the poetry parallel and I can see why you saw similarities.
Dennis, our disagreements are like boxing promotion build-ups, after the dust of the fight settles the public realizes there was never really any beef to begin with; in other words we’ve disagreed on a handful of films over the past year or so, and probably agreed on hundreds. Why you need to keep pointing out the anomalies is what really boggles this mind.
RE: Almodovar, I also really liked BROKEN EMBRACES. It’s something Sam and I have touched on quite a bit, as he was– like most– rather lukewarm. Perhaps what you say here is correct: he’s just always thinking of this film (so all the others pale in comparison). Perhaps because it’s been about 7 years since I’ve seen it that I in turn value the recent stuff so much. It’s a theory I am going to test: I plan on (re)watching this film ASAP (I don’t own it so I’ll have to netflix, which will take a few days to arrive).
JAMIE-yea, I agree. The overwhelming response to TALK TO HER has jaded a few in their rightful assessment of this directors work after the fact. I must admit on a personal level, however, that although I don’t condemn Almodovar’s later work, I too feel its not in the same leaque. I really enjoyed VOLVER, one of my favorites of that year, but in no way did it achieve the same EMOTIONAL resonance that TALK TO HER did. Still, I look forward to Pedro’s films every time he puts out a new one as he is one of a very few film-makers out there that almost always pulls wonderful rabbits out of the hat.
Fine essay, Allen, although like some others I would put this film in the top ten. It’s so far above other Almodovar films, does so much more, that I think of it with–well, “reverence” is the right word. It’s such a brave movie. He abandoned many of his trademark tics (maybe it’s only me, and I’m aware Pedro couldn’t care less, but it IS possible to rely too heavily on raccoon-eyed transvestites). He dealt with the most serious possible subjects without cheating. In TALK TO HER his viewpoint is something like that of a compassionate god, but one with very clear eyes. The tragedies are real; his tenderness, which has no softness in it, is real. Some of his effects are mysterious. Who would guess, during Benigno’s creepier activities, that at the very end we would think of him with sympathy rather than repulsion? Or that Marco’s steadfastness would be so incredibly moving? Or that the whole look of the film would be an emotion in itself?
For me, this is the first (and maybe the only) of Almodovar’s films which is unequivocally great.