Talk to Her | Rotten Tomatoes

Talk to Her

R

Now Playing

1 hr. 52 min.

Drama

Romance

List

91%

137 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Male nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara) becomes infatuated with a complete stranger when he watches dancer Alicia (Leonor Watling) practicing from the anonymity of his apartment. After being injured in a car accident, Alicia is brought to a nearby hospital, where Benigno serendipitously happens to be her caregiver. When wounded bullfighter Lydia (Rosario Flores) is brought into the same ward, her companion, writer Marco (Darío Grandinetti), begins to bond with Benigno.

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Critics Consensus

Another masterful, compassionate work from Pedro Almodovar.

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Kyle M

During the first viewing, it dozes apathetically until the prompt gets truly realized and grasped as a social statement treading delicately on certain themes that convincingly deserves a second viewing with the newfound mindset. Appreciation has already been set over how it was remarkably well-made buoyed by fine performances albeit convoluting characterized connections blurred. (B)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/12/23

Full Review

Matthew B

Pedro Almodovar is a director who makes films about the area of human life where the boundaries begin to blur. His works deal in the hinterland between conformity and transgression, the normal and the outrageous, the probable and the impossible, high art and lowbrow humour, naturalism and soap opera, masculine and feminine, conventional morality and deviance. Talk to Her is no exception to the rule. Indeed it deals in other areas of experience that lie between the borders – the unclear defining line between reality and fantasy, love and delusion, and even life and death. The heroines in Talk to Her are not exactly dead, but they are not alive either. They spend most of the movie in a coma. We see the life of one woman before her accident and flashbacks to both women, but for the main part of the action the women lie in a bed with their eyes closed. There are sparks of life in both women. Even while in a coma, a patient can open her eyes, yawn and perform basic body functions. She can still have her period, and it is a source of great concern for the hospital staff if she does not. In this state it seems as if they are no longer the women they were, and can never be restored. This does not stop the men from hoping. A doctor tells Marco Zuluaga (Darío Grandinetti) that medically it is impossible for his girlfriend to recover, but he cannot help showing Marco a magazine article in which a long-time coma victim did exactly that. The men who love the women are also obliged to keep their faith in the impossible. Pedro Almodovar's movies are renowned for putting the women as the central point of focus. This time the women cannot be the lead movers in the action. We have instead two men who take on the feminine role as carers and a woman who competes in the masculine world of bullfighting. Both men have very feminine personalities too. Marco cries in the movie – a lot. Initially he is crying for memory of a former lover, and his regret that he cannot share moving experiences with her anymore. He has an expressive face that conveys strong emotions, even when not spoken. Marco is crying when we first see him. He is watching a ballet performance that (appropriately enough) portrays men removing obstacles from the path of unseeing women. In this movie, the women do not see the men, even when they are awake. Both men have a heroic level of unselfishness, yet maybe there is something self-indulgent in their willingness to devote themselves to others. They seem to seek fulfilment in supporting women who need them. Benigno takes on extra shifts to help his busy colleagues so he can be near Alicia, and describes the years he has spent looking after her as the richest of his life. What would happen if those women woke from their trance-like state, and made clear what they really wanted? Would they still want the man who has dedicated his time to them? The story challenges our conventional judgements, and tries to set them on their head. If an essentially good person does a bad act for good reasons and with good results, then how bad can it be? How far do we condemn him for it? The answer to this question may differ from viewer to viewer, and their response to the ending of the movie will be affected by that judgement. Some viewers may be moved to tears, others moved to disgust. I belong in the former category. This full-frontal assault on accepted standards of morality is characteristic of most of Almodovar's films. While Talk to Her is more restrained than the comedies that first made Almodovar an international name, and does not even contain more blatantly camp characters such as the transsexuals in All About My Mother, it still bears many of the familiar trademarks of the director. It is filmed in bright colours, and the action is interspersed with songs and dancing, lending the film a theatrical look. Large text looms across the screen to indicate the passage of time. The story contains extraordinary plot twists and mischievous humour. The camp and the kitsch elements mingle freely with the intellectual and artistic content. However few of Almodovar's films achieve that balance of opposites better than Talk to Her. I wrote a longer appreciation of Talk to Her (with spoilers) on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/talk-to-her-2002/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/22/23

Full Review

Jav N

Engaging in a conversation with ‘Talk to Her,' one finds a seemingly simple narrative that unfolds into a captivating tale of complexity. The film's story development is nothing short of amazing. The exaggerated poetic character and the art of decoupage contribute to the movie's uniqueness, adding layers of charm to the storyline. The film's open-ended narrative forces you to think about its characters and prompts you to flash back to their memories, providing a deeper connection to their journeys. Notably, ‘Talk to Her' cleverly begins and finishes in the same theater location, creating a sense of circularity and life's continuous loop, further inviting viewers to explore the intricacies of human connection and emotion. Additionally, the portrayal of obsessive love and its connection to the main character's profound loneliness is psychologically complex. This complexity compels viewers to emotionally empathize with the characters, immersing themselves in a thought-ggprovoking exploration of love and solitude.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/10/23

Full Review

Jos Miguel G

The most human and complex story told by Pedro Almodovar. A masterpiece

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/13/22

Full Review

Esra Y

Till final scene movie grips you from the opening scene and flows smoothly but it leaves a bitter taste that in the end it's implied the girl would start some kind of relationship with bystander, best friend of her assaulter.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/04/22

Full Review

isla s

I really enjoyed this film. Its touching and poignant at times but its not entirely a sentimental film - there is some sexual content, mainly nudity present, which may put people off. Its a thoughtful film, with good characters - I liked the characterisation and I found it charming how the two men, who find themselves in similar situations (i.e. their other half is in a coma), get along and perhaps begrudgingly support themselves. It is a somewhat arty film at times, with one scene depicting a silent film (in black and white), which I found a bit uncomfortable due to the nudity aspect in it. This seemed to me a quite thoughtful, even somewhat philosophical, film, one I really enjoyed by the end. I like that it wasn't too cliched/'Hollywood', not shying away from some gritty plot aspects. This is a film I'd definitely recommend (even the traditional Spanish (Flamenco style?) music played as the credits rolled was lovely but it won't necessarily be suitable for all.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Pedro Almodóvar

Director

Javier Cámara

Benigno

Darío Grandinetti

Marco Zuloaga

Rosario Flores

Lydia

Leonor Watling

Alicia

Geraldine Chaplin

Katerina Bilova

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Matthew Turner

Empire Magazine

A superb soundtrack, great performances and just a hint of controversy, this is Almodóvar on top form.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 25, 2024

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Almodovar uses the characters' unlikely predicaments to show how we define ourselves by narration, but his story is so overdetermined that ultimately the two men seem as constrained as their brain-dead sweethearts.

Jan 11, 2008

Full Review

David Ansen

Newsweek

It's Almodovar's most mature and mysterious movie.

Nov 1, 2007

Full Review

Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

Almodovar’s simple script reveals itself in complex ways, asking the audience to empathize with his characters in situations that seem unusual, but feel all too human.

Rated: 3.5/4

Dec 4, 2022

Full Review

Jane Freebury

The Canberra Times (Australia)

Almodovar's unique vision creates a sensual, extravagant world of its own.

Aug 18, 2022

Full Review

Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Almodóvar glibly, superficially and without opposition presents contemporary Spain as a series of beautiful images, largely devoid of a social context.

Mar 5, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Male nurse Benigno (Javier Cámara) becomes infatuated with a complete stranger when he watches dancer Alicia (Leonor Watling) practicing from the anonymity of his apartment. After being injured in a car accident, Alicia is brought to a nearby hospital, where Benigno serendipitously happens to be her caregiver. When wounded bullfighter Lydia (Rosario Flores) is brought into the same ward, her companion, writer Marco (Darío Grandinetti), begins to bond with Benigno.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Executive Producer: Agustín Almodóvar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Via Digital, El Deseo S.A., Good Machine, Antena 3 Televisión
Rating: R (Sexual Content|Nudity|Some Language)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Original Language: Spanish (Spain)
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 22, 2002, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 25, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $9.3M
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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