Talk To Her | Film | The Guardian

Talk To Her

Reviews in chronological order (Total 30 reviews)

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  • Submitted by Mark on 04/09/2002 10:38

    A hauntingly beautiful film - far superior to 'All About My Mother' with echoes of much earlier work and wonderful cameos from his little coterie of favourite actresses. Defintely worth going straight out to see - I guarantee it will stay with you.

    9 April 2002 10:38AM

  • Submitted by S Bateman on 04/10/2002 13:21

    Vapid. None of the emotions connected to emotional deprivation, failure to make adult relationships, rape, suicide or the vaguely alluded to drug addiction, ring true.

    10 April 2002 1:21PM

  • Submitted by Jim Buck on 07/09/2002 18:16

    A luminous exploration of territory left in darkness since Hitchcock completed 'Psycho'. Benigno is the benign Bates who escaped from mother, and the motel, by hiding in Marion Crane's handbag. A tour-de-force!

    9 July 2002 6:16PM

  • Submitted by Fester on 19/07/2002 14:54

    Very good indeed. The little short within the film (The Shrinking Man) is a depiction of what Almodovar thinks of the relationships between men and women. This time is not so much about the female modus operandum, but more about how men feel about and interact with women. All the actors are brilliant, the score is perfect, the photography is flawless and Almodovar's writing is at its best here. Highly recommended. There is actually a story to follow and characters you care about.

    19 July 2002 2:54PM

  • Submitted on 25/08/2002 21:31

    A truly beautiful film in every way. With all the passion and spirit of Almodovar, this is a truly warm film in which the director's exceptional understanding of human nature comes to the fore. It is a definite must-see!

    25 August 2002 9:31PM

  • Submitted by Daz on 26/08/2002 20:46

    An effortlessly good film that is the perfect remedy to the dross we've endured this summer. Highly recommended!

    26 August 2002 8:46PM

  • Submitted by Roberto on 27/08/2002 16:06

    I must have missed something or maybe I just feel Almodovar IS too predictable witness conversation with TV hostess and Lidia.. he has done it umpteen times before. Give me "Huevos de oro" by Bigas Luna anyday a far better film

    27 August 2002 4:06PM

  • Submitted by Scheherezade on 28/08/2002 14:14

    Almodovar is a great filmmaker and every frame of this film is a testimony to his increasing technical assurance. But whereas All About My Mother showed an encouraging move toward a more humanistic vision (albeit with his usual gender-bending sense of mischief), most reviewers (including Peter Bradshaw) seem to be willing to overlook the highly unpleasant and voyeuristic nature of Talk to Her. It may be "bathed in Mediterranean sunshine" but the rape of a comatose victim is still the highly unpleasant act of a character who is portrayed in the most sympathetic terms. Almodovar doesn't seem to distinguish between genuinely caring, sensitive behaviour and the distinctly unhealthy and obsessive intimacy displayed by its central character. Most reviewers seem to be intrigued by Almodovar's new focus on his male characters, driven by painful events towards a greater openness to and appreciation of life. But even sensitive men can display a lack of understanding of sexual boundaries, and Almodovar does himself no credit in failing to draw a distinction between unhealthy voyeurism, which objectifies women just a much as any mainstream piece of filmmaking (less, in fact, because Hollywood these days is constrained by political correctness), and the genuine expression of feeling which he seems to desire in his male characters.

    28 August 2002 2:14PM

  • Submitted by Lee on 28/08/2002 14:23

    This is Almodovar by numbers - it contains all of the expected ingredients from the Spanish director, except a heart. It's his least moving film yet still far better than most current releases.

    28 August 2002 2:23PM

  • Submitted by ithinkiwoulddie on 28/08/2002 17:02

    As always Almodovar's shining sentiment to love, loss, humanity and death overflow in another film set to take him further into our world, and vice versa. For anyone that has loved and lost, this is the raft to steer your heart back into your chest. Allow your heart to watch it, and your head will surely follow.

    28 August 2002 5:02PM

  • Submitted by manchester on 29/08/2002 00:45

    Intriguing, funny and touching; this is a beautiful film about relationships between men and women, (AND men and men,AND women and women).

    29 August 2002 12:45AM

  • Submitted by Julie Travis on 31/08/2002 13:42

    I'm disappointed that I can only rate this film a 5; there's a lot about it to recommend, but parts of it I found objectionable. During the bullfighting scenes, I found myself grimacing, although relieved that the law prohibits real suffering of animals in films. Afterwards, I found out that the bulls' injuries were, in fact, the real thing, that the blood pouring down the backs of the animals is real blood. Almodovar, it appears, did a neat dance around the law, buying four bulls specifically for filming but filming a bullfighting schools' 'training session'. He directed the scenes and so was very much involved - had I known this, I would not have gone to see the film, and it has left a bad taste in my mouth. Audience reaction inevitably influences a person's cinema experience. I'd gone to an afternoon matinee, and was unfortunately joined by three young gay men who found the discussion about nuns being raped absolutely screamingly hilarious. They only stopped laughing when the subject of AIDS came up. That, of course, is not Almodovar's fault, but it set the scene for my own reaction to the non-judgmental treatment of the male nurse accused of rape and the review I read in the foyer afterwards, which questioned whether the act was rape at all. The suggestion that the victim - a woman in a persistent vegetative state, who had previously been frightened of the nurse's stalking of her - could possibly have given her consent to sex, is quite appalling in my opinion. Almodovar's films are usually unsettling in some way, which is part of why I like them so much. This one, however, made me uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons.

    31 August 2002 1:42PM

  • Submitted on 13/09/2002 13:34

    strangely touching and unexpected - there's no cross-dressing for a start. The ending, with one patient suddenly reviving is pretty unconvincing, otherwise, sd without being depressing.

    13 September 2002 1:34PM

  • Submitted by Undercurrents on 13/09/2002 17:08

    Crafted, beautiful and stunning weaving story. Probaly the best crafted film i have ever seen. Characters were perfectly cast and the silent movie within the movie is a laugh. Lets have more like this to topple the Hollywood factory.

    13 September 2002 5:08PM

  • Submitted by Andy Lillford on 23/09/2002 17:13

    Argentinian travel writer plus wise simpleton rapist virgin, minus comatose girl with amazing teeth and dead female bullfighter makes for great film. And there's even another movie inside that one. Typical Pedro!

    23 September 2002 5:13PM

  • Submitted on 24/09/2002 14:44

    Almodovar's best movie. It's typically out there and unusual, but it hangs together much better, it's funny, and it's genuinely moving. Why only the two Stella stars in The Grauniad?

    24 September 2002 2:44PM

  • Submitted by lola on 27/09/2002 11:35

    I found Benigno extremely creepy, and I could not believe that his rape was a misguided act of love. I would not describe this as a heartwarming film.

    27 September 2002 11:35AM

  • Submitted by don gruntles on 10/09/2002 10:10

    This film deals with darker aspects of life. A rawness and blunt stark portrayal of one sided love. Graphic in some aspects, the use of sureal and real goings on in the mind of a man besotted with the idea of his love and his consequent selfishness is shameful. I know many might find this film intriguing and some sort of expression of art. In all respects it is disrespectful and shameless, exploiting weakness and vanadalising sensibilities, one sided love is obsession and this film is awful.

    9 October 2002 10:10AM

  • Submitted by Wyldman on 10/09/2002 12:46

    Although this film is almost icy in its clinical outlook (most of the action is set in hospital or prison) it generates considerable emotional wallop. You leave the cinema misty eyed, despite the fact that the main protagonist has committed rape - which seems to be excused because he's a bit simple and, shucks, he lurrv's her. Almodovar makes you not only swallow this but feel sorry for the cute little fella too. Fine film-making, if not as good as it thinks it is.

    9 October 2002 12:46PM

  • Submitted by Kate on 14/10/2002 20:15

    A beautiful film about the friendship between two men. The plot took some rather shocking turns, but I never lost my sympathy for Benigno, nor in fact for the other characters. It made a lasting impression.

    14 October 2002 8:15PM

  • Submitted by Ryan Shevlane on 15/10/2002 09:47

    Another great Spanish movie, another thought-provoking revelation. Although I was disappointed with Lydia's story dropping out of the picture so early, Hable Con Ella was overall a lush, seamless, evocative piece of work which had (and which I believe Almodovar consciously aimed for) a truly cathartic effect. The night-music scene where Marco Zuloaga dissolves into tears at the gorgeous singing, remembering an ancient sadness, was heavy with beauty and thirst for life.

    15 October 2002 9:47AM

  • Submitted by AIDAN O'SHEA on 16/11/2002 16:45

    A full day after seeing it, and I am still reeling! It is so sensual and ambiguous in every caressing visual detail. Loneliness redeemed by kindness, physical grace reduced to anomie by tragic accidents, the transcending power of art. It's all there to be savoured again and again. From the buckle on the tunic of the matador to the sweep of the sierras, a feast for the senses. See it and see it again.

    16 November 2002 4:45PM

  • Submitted by James Oscar on 23/11/2002 19:42

    A direct copy of Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love from the almost literal copying of the music to the slow sway of shooting love -with the same chorus reprise for these scenes, the flm is a beautiful meditation on transcultural culture- Argentina, Spain, the space of being Near Death, however Almodovar fails to enter into the mechanics of transculturality as Wai does -he remains an observer- of course one cannot deny some beautiful moments.

    23 November 2002 7:42PM

  • Submitted by eduardo/brazil on 24/11/2002 11:09

    never have I seen such a story be told about loneliness and the possibility of love with such tenderness as in 'talk to her'. a masterpiece

    24 November 2002 11:09AM

  • Submitted by Rob on 12/11/2002 15:10

    Overrated, Almodovar keeps peddling out the same old gags. There are lots better Spanish directors than this and the central premise is boring. I was really disappointed. Try Huevos de oro, a much better film with probably one of the best male actors currently around

    11 December 2002 3:10PM

  • Submitted by Lewis Papier on 22/12/2002 06:05

    Almost all of the so-called "professional" critics have termed this film a masterpiece. I don't see why. Yes the plot is pretty good and there are enough twists and turns in it to keep you interested. But the characters are all quite thin. What do we learn about the two main female characters? The bullfighter is scared of snakes and the psychiatrist's daughter has an interest in dance. That's about it. "Marco" really has nothing to do except be a good friend to perverted "Begnino" whose one-note obsession sums up his character. The director is morally ambivalent regarding the rape of the comatose patient, in essence trying to evoke sympathy for the obsessed nurse. The characters are really subordinate to the plot here and when you add it all up, there aren't many insights or texture!

    22 December 2002 6:05AM

  • Submitted by melissa cotton on 28/05/2003 20:27

    Superficially pleasant but with a disturbing after taste. I thought the film was about the male sexual fantasy of sex with a purely passive female. Not nice.

    28 May 2003 8:27PM
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