Talk to Her

Theatrical Release Date: 2002 11 22 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 043396089167

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Language, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Pedro Almod?var follows his international success All About My Mother with an offbeat drama that explores the friendship of two men brought together under unusual but strangely similar circumstances. Benigno (Javier Cam?ra) is a male nurse whose apartment overlooks a dance studio run by Katerina (Geraldine Chaplin); he often sits on his balcony and watches one of Katerina's students, Alicia (Leonor Watling), and he finds himself becoming infatuated with her. When Alicia is severely injured in an auto accident that leaves her in a coma, Benigno discovers she has been admitted to the hospital where he works, and he spends his days caring for a woman he now deeply loves but has barely met. Marco (Dar?o Grandinetti) is a journalist who was assigned to interview Lydia (Rosario Flores), a well-known female bullfighter whose on-the-rocks romance with another toreador, "El Ni?o de Valencia" (Adolfo Fern?ndez), has made her the focus of the tabloid press. During Marco's interview with Lydia, he goes out of his way to treat her kindly, and she appears to return his attention. During the bullfight which follows, Lydia is gored by the bull, and is now in a coma; Marco is certain his interview broke her steely concentration, and he spends most of his days at the hospital, convinced her injuries are his fault. Alicia and Lydia are both housed in the same ward of the same hospital, and in time Benigno and Marco become close friends, bonding in their shared devotion to women who cannot return their affection. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Director – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – null Best Picture (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Director (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Film – National Society of Film Critics Best European Film – European Film Academy Best European Director – European Film Academy Best European Screenplay – European Film Academy Best Film from the European Union – French Academy of Cinema Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review Best Foreign Language Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: ccPedro Almod?var and Geraldine Chaplin commentary
Weblinks to movie website and official Pedro Almod?var website
Digitally mastered audio & anamorphic video
Mastered in high definition
Widescreen presentation
Audio: Spanish 5.1 (Dolby Digital), French 5.1 (Dolby Digital)
Subtitles: English, French
Bonus trailers
Interactive menus
Scene selections

Talk to Her

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/29/2003

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 114 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) Spanish,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Start [3:33]
2. Benigno Martin, Nurse [4:04]
3. Marco Zuloago, Journalist [2:03]
4. Lydia Gonzalez, Bullfighter [3:09]
5. Lydia & Marco [5:34]
6. Alicia, Four Years in a Coma [5:07]
7. Gored [3:25]
8. Nino de Valencia [2:30]
9. "Cucurrucuc? Paloma" [6:17]
10. Dr. Vega [1:24]
11. Marco Meets Benigno [1:46]
12. Dr. Roncero, Alicia's Father [2:34]
13. Katerina Bilova, Dance Instructor [3:54]
14. Four Years Earlier [4:43]
15. An Appointment With Dr. Roncero [4:25]
16. "Talk to Her." [2:03]
17. Shrinking Lover [5:13]
18. Benjamin & Angela's Wedding [8:16]
19. "We'd Gotten Back Together." [3:47]
20. "I Want to Marry Alicia." [2:45]
21. The Inquiry [1:26]
22. Visiting Day [1:43]
23. The Concierge [8:25]
24. Alicia, Alive & Well [2:06]
25. Mr. Sanz, the Attorney [1:55]
26. Benigno's Escape Clause [3:04]
27. Masurca Fogo I [5:24]
28. Masurca Fogo II [2:27]

Andrea LeVasseur

As a filmmaker who has built a career out of creating stellar roles for actresses, director Pedro Almod?var has taken on some bold challenges for Talk to Her. A bizarre love story of a technically nonexistent relationship, it doesn't allow for easy spiritual redemption. Simple melodramatic terms are avoided when the central female characters are rendered unresponsive but ever-present. One of them, Lydia (Rosario Flores), is even positioned in horrifying bullfighting scenes that capture all the gruesome sadness and reality of the ultramasculine sport. When the would-be leading ladies drop out into comas, the two men are forced to deal with all the messy and troubling aspects of relationships -- or lack thereof. Acting as the film's anchor, the balding and muscular Marco (Dario Grandinetti) cries intermittently throughout the film, a small detail that seems almost revolutionary in this context. With a bravery and steadfast kindness, he forges a friendship with the deeply troubled Benigno (Javier Camara) whose mental illness leads the film into several dark places, including a wildly cinematic fantasy construction of sexual exploration. By contrast, the freshly lit scenes of tenderness with crisp white cotton garments belie the destructiveness Benigno is capable of. However disturbing the situation eventually becomes, these scenes speak volumes about the power of devotion as a motivator. Several side characters provide a background for the themes dealt with in the central narrative -- that of the power of faith to renew and transform. But like many human relationships, the result isn't clearly defined, leaving a confusing mess of conflicting emotions. Also, like the film's many well-staged modern dance sequences, the power lies in the constant interplay of reasoning between logic and belief. Ambiguity is one of the film's best assets, leaving the viewer with plenty of moral space for existential questioning. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Elena Anaya  Actor 
Loles Leon  Actor 
Roberto Alvarez  Actor 
Fele Martínez  Actor 
Chus Lampreave  Actor 
Paz Vega  Actor 
Agustín Almodóvar  Producer 
Pedro Almodóvar  Director 
Pedro Almodóvar  Screenwriter 
Alberto Iglesias  Composer (Music Score) 
Javier Camára  Actor 
Darío Grandinetti  Actor 
Leonor Watling  Actor 
Rosario Flores  Actor 
Geraldine Chaplin  Actor 

Country: Spain