Talk to Her

Talk to Her is an Academy Award Winning Spanish film from 2002. The film is about two men, Marco and Benigno, who care for their loved ones while they are both in comas. There are many story and character revelations as the story becomes clearer with flashbacks. Benigno is a nurse who is in love with a woman in a coma he doesn’t even really know but is smitten with her. His job as a nurse requires him to clean her and take care of her. Benigno did a similar thing as a boy when he had to take care of his mother. Marco’s girlfriend got gored by a bull and she is also in coma. That is where these two men begin to talk. Then there is an out of left field moment as Benigno gets accused of raping the comatose woman.

There are a lot of themes in this film as this film has so many things happening at once. But one theme that stood out for me was loneliness and the need for intimacy. The character of Benigno said at one point in the film he never goes out. He basically has no social interactions. Due to his loneliness, he craves intimacy and love. He stares outside his window looking at a woman he is smitten with. He was brought up as a young boy caring for his mother. He spent his whole life mostly cleaning, feeding, and looking after bed ridden people. This carries on in the hospital with Alicia. If he did in fact rape her, it was because he was in a one sided love affair with her and that he didn't fully know what he was doing was wrong. There was an earlier scene where he asks tells Marco he wants to marry her even though she is in a vegetative state. Benigno was obsessed with Alicia but he was also loving and caring at the same time. In fact he was probably the cause of her waking from the coma due to the pregnancy.

This film had a very interesting and different story. I felt the filmmaking and storytelling was also very creative. I enjoyed the use of flashbacks to tell the story. It was also very interesting that the first scene of the movie shows these two men sitting next to each other at a ballet. They are complete strangers and then come to know each other later through the circumstances in the film. The way the film’s story kept introducing new things to the plot was very exciting. Once I heard that Alicia was pregnant, I got a little bit more comfortable in my chair. I knew things were about to get very interesting. Pretty much after that revelation up until the ending, the film became incredibly engrossing. I didn’t really know what to think of the film as it began, but a little soon after I kind of warmed up to it. I felt like some things I have seen in the film in the beginning didn’t quite make sense at first, but as I thought about it and the more the film progressed it was all starting to make sense. I think this film would definitely be watchable and just as interesting the second time around now knowing what is going to happen in the story and what the film is all about. It definitely made me think about what I just saw. I felt like almost anything could happen in the story. The silent movie scene was also extremely bizarre. I thought the film was very well made. The acting and direction was spot on. The writing was probably the best thing about it. The film was well deserved of its Academy Award for best screenplay. The film makes for a great conversation piece afterwards.