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Talk to Her (Hable con Ella) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 51 Reviews)

A very well done Spanish film
"Hable con Ella" is the first Almodovar film I see so I can't quite put this in perspective. What I can say is that this is a powerful drama done in a way that only non-American cinema looks and feels. There's just a "je ne sais quois" that sets this kind of cinema apart and Almodovar seems to be a master of this effect.

Perhaps much of the reason behind that is how crudely and in-your-face Almodovar tells us the story he chose to tell us, never shying away from the bare naked truth of what it really means to be in a comatose state. This, in fact, is the story of two women who are in a vegetative state and who both have a man deeply caring for them. Benigno is a male nurse who hardly knew Alicia but who fell in love with her after she had a traffic accident and got under his care. Marco had feelings for Lydia, the most famous female bullfighter in Spain, but after she's gored by a bull, all that's left to him is trying to put the pieces of his life back together while seating at her bedside.

The core of the film turns out to be the developing relationship between Benigno and Marco inside the clinic. This lends itself to thought provoking moral issues that Almodovar has no problem in presenting us in a daring and touching manner. From showing us objectively the effort that's involved in taking daily care of someone who is in a coma, to a brilliantly metaphoric short and sexually explicit - in its own extraordinarily peculiar way - silent movie, "Hable con Ella" is never ashamed of itself.

Personally, though, I couldn't really connect with these four people. I felt there was some missing link that kept me from caring as much as I felt the viewer is intended to care. Perhaps this warrants a second viewing some other time, maybe then, with the plot details out of the way, it reveals subtleties on the characters that I couldn't quite grasp upon first viewing.

Still, a beautifully constructed film.

Two comas, more than two couples
Two parallel stories, two different couples, merging into one at the end. In both cases, the woman goes into a coma and the man visits her in the hospital.

The film opens with pretty Alicia already in a coma as a result of a car accident. One of the two nurses hired to be with her at all times is a young man named Benigno who loves her. He bathes her, talks to her, and makes her pregnant in her coma.

Lydia is a female bullfighter who has just broken up with the man she loved. She meets Marco, a reporter. They have an affair. Then she is gored by a bull and goes into a coma.

Does either girl come out of her coma? Does either girl die? Does Alicia have her baby? Does Benigno get arrested? What happens to these four people?

This is a very touching movie. But when it was over I found myself hoping for an even more touching conclusion.

Not Almodovar's Best!!
You just might be in a coma by the end of this movie. I really like Almodovar and appreciate his talents, but this movie is far too boring. I rented this film and couldn't even manage to make it to the end (I caught the rest on cable). If I wanted to sit in a hospital for a couple of hours I would go visit my dying grandmother. My attention span is probably no shorter than yours so just take my word. The pristine cinematography and complex dialogue couldn't salvage this film; it truly was that tedious. The only notable scene was a dream sequence involving a nude woman and a three inch man. F.Y.I ladies, your boyfriend and husband have probably had this fantasy too!

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