not as good as all the hype

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This film so intensely dehumanizes comatose women and so romanticizes and apologizes for rapists that you see all these nauseating reviews applauding it. People get so sucked in that they are not even realizing what they are watching - the rape of patients in comas. Read that again. This is manipulative filmmaking at it's WORST. Sickening and insulting to abuse victims.

Pedro Almodovar's 2002 film HABLE CON ELLA is one of the film-maker's most elegant achievements. Benigno (Javier Camera) is a nurse in a Madrid hospital taking care of Alicia (Leonor Watling), a young ballerina who has lived in a coma for the last four years. Marco (Dario Grandinetti) is an Argentinian journalist who watches in horror as his torero girlfriend Lydia (Rosario Flores) falls into a coma after a bullfighting tragedy. The two men form an odd friendship, with Benigno's unwavering love for his ward contrasted with Marco's emotional turmoil. HABLE CON ELLA was the film sensation of the year that I moved to Spain, and I watched it many times then and later. After a recent viewing, I decided that I can fairly declare it to be a masterpiece.HABLE CON ELLA succeeds on several different fronts, from strong acting by this international cast to the bold use of colors and the cinematography. But for me the most memorable are the two psychological tricks Almodovar works in the plot. He inspires such sympathy in the viewer for Benigno, a character who upon rational reflection is arguably monstrous. Then, at the close of the film, he provides what seems like a heartwarming happy ending even when tragedy has unfolded for much of the film. On my recent viewing, I was especially touched by Marco's insightful musings on love in the last flashback scene.Almodovar's movies are often full of odd sexual twists, a fact with which this reviewer is well acquainted and quite used to. For viewers unused to the Spanish auteur, things may initially seem bizarre, but I would call on everyone who likes art cinema to give HABLE CON ELLA a chance.

This film does not need recommendations. It is such a pure form of art that is worthy of viewing. I am hugely fond of Spanish films, as they come out with mere unanticipated twists and emotions so different form the world we live in. This film carries on the trend. It is a slow- medium paced film, which penetrates the human mind to consider or reconsider many aspects of the society. A story, so original. Characters, so plain and simple, and yet so well played by each of them. Since, I myself do not like spoilers, I am not going to get in to any revealing details. But, in the middle of the film an abrupt song, which will give you goose-bumps and enthrall you. Small details so well maintained in the film, that makes it a master piece. Please watch it, if you are a fan of rarity.

Many, many of the films of Pedro Almodóvar are creepy--and it's a rare one (such as "Volver") that isn't. Some are super-creepy but I can get past that because the films are so well written and directed ("The SKin I Live In" is a good example). And, some are just so creepy and downright nasty that I feel like I need to take a bath after seeing them ("What Have I Done to Deserve This?"). Well, "Talk to Her" falls somewhere between these last two categories--perhaps a bit towards category #3! While exceptionally well made, it is just gross and nasty and, perhaps, might be seen as a weird endorsement of deviant behavior.The film revolves around two men who love women who are in comas. One is a reporter who has fallen in love with a female bullfighter who was put into a coma after an unsuccessful bullfight. Another is a creepy guy who works at the long-term care facility. I say creepy because later you learn that his prize patient, who he dotes on lovingly, is a woman he was obsessed with BEFORE her accident that left her in a coma. Being with her and taking care of her is his life. However, it gets MUCH, MUCH worse. Later, this creepy little $&@* rapes the comatose woman. Folks learn about this when she ends up pregnant--pregnant and in a coma! There's more--and, in a way, it ends up looking almost like the film is endorsing the rape. Sort of the 'all's well that ends well' plot twist. As a guy who was a counselor years ago that worked with sex offenders, I found the film pretty sick. Part of this, I am sure, because of the work I did and my experiences (I now feel that therapy with sex offenders is pretty much a waste of time). But part of this is that the film just seems to almost romanticize a guy who is sick and gross and a criminal. See the film for yourself if you'd like. I just think Almodóvar stepped over the line with this one from being entertaining and very well made to being a bit depraved. By the way, although I am NOT a person who in any way endorses PETA and many of the extremist animal rights folks, I did find it disturbing seeing a bull tortured and killed for the film. Yes, I know bullfighting in legal in many places but it just seemed wrong to use the animal this way. Eat 'em, fine. But slowly killing an animal when it wasn't necessary, I am not fine with that.Also, at one point, Lydia says her father was only a banderillo. This is a person who works in the bullring and their job is to torment the bull by sticking metal spikes into its back before the matador enters the ring to eventually kill the animal.Finally, what is with that giant vagina fantasy sequence?! In a surreal or absurdist film it would have been pretty funny but here, once again, it's rather disturbing.