ryan.smith.blog

Here is a beautiful, thought-provoking, emotionally stirring film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar. The story deals with two women who are in life-threatening comas and the men taking care of them, but that is just a front for the emotional and psychological ideas that Almodovar wants to explore: role reversal, obsession, voyeurism, and the question of what it means to be a woman. He’s challenging stereotypes here. A female bullfighter, a paralyzed ballerina, one man who cries in a theater performance, another who cares for his patient like only a woman could.

I’ve only seen a couple of Almodovar’s films, but I’m already a big fan. His use of color, his thoughtful compositions, and his ability to transform abstract concepts into visuals reminds me a lot of Bergman’s work. And their endless fascination with women is another obvious binding tie.

“Talk to Her” is not easy. It goes places you might not expect, and presents a truly challenging moral dilemma, but it is all the more powerful for it.

Note: There is some objectionable content in the film, particularly a fantasy sequence that is comical in nature but potentially offensive. Just a friendly warning.