Photo: Leonor Watling as Alicia in Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her
Since the early '80s, Almodóvar's cinema of penetration has been challenging our perceptions of sex and sexual behavior via modes of camp, and this time around he grapples with rape and unconsciousness. Though oppressed at times by its jazzy, theatrical formalism, Talk To Her still finds the director at his most soulful. Lydia (Rosario Flores) is a bullfighter afraid of snakes. Marco (Darío Grandinetti) is the man who loves her. Though their love remains unconsummated, he still sits loyally by her bedside when a raging bull leaves her in a coma. Benigno (Javier Cámara) is the sexually confused male nurse who advises Marco to "talk to her"; he should know, seeing as he's been talking to his own crippled "girlfriend" (Leonor Watling's Alicia) for four years now. Benigno's philosophy of healing echoes Pedro Almodóvar's interest in opening the lines of communication between women and the men who love them all too passionately.
Since the early '80s, Almodóvar's cinema of penetration has been challenging our perceptions of sex and sexual behavior via modes of camp, and this time around he grapples with rape and unconsciousness. Though oppressed at times by its jazzy, theatrical formalism, Talk To Her still finds the director at his most soulful. Lydia (Rosario Flores) is a bullfighter afraid of snakes. Marco (Darío Grandinetti) is the man who loves her. Though their love remains unconsummated, he still sits loyally by her bedside when a raging bull leaves her in a coma. Benigno (Javier Cámara) is the sexually confused male nurse who advises Marco to "talk to her"; he should know, seeing as he's been talking to his own crippled "girlfriend" (Leonor Watling's Alicia) for four years now. Benigno's philosophy of healing echoes Pedro Almodóvar's interest in opening the lines of communication between women and the men who love them all too passionately.
