Too much of everything

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

If you've seen any of Pedro Almodóvar's movies, then you should know that he tends to focus on relationships and how the relationships can affect the people involved. "Hable con ella" ("Talk to Her" in English) looks at a most unusual kind of relationship: a four-way relationship between a pair of men caring for comatose women. As always, Almodóvar makes sure to create multidimensional characters, especially the female characters (contast that with Michael Bay's movies, wherein the women are just eye candy). The storytelling in flashback reminded me of Almodóvar's more recent "Broken Embraces", which told the story of damaged relationships. But however the story gets told, we have here one of the most profound and intellectually stimulating movies of the 21st century; not that I would expect otherwise from Spain's most famous director. In case you doubted that Almodóvar likes to push the limit, check out the movie-within-a-movie. Seriously, not even John Waters has ever come up with that! I highly recommend it. Outstanding direction and performances from all the cast members.

Talk to Her, directed by Pedro Almodovar, is about the friendship between 2 men caring for 2 comatose women. With TTH, go in knowing very little about the plot and brave yourselves. This movie is an emotionally devastating juggernaut full of gut-wrenching story beats, moral ambiguity and meticulously constructed themes. Although TTH takes a little while to get going and certain things feel a bit illogical, once it hits its stride you'll be unable to look away. While the performances are all around excellent, the star of the show is Almodovar. His script is disturbing, haunting, moving and never boring, and the way he constructs the movie visually is brilliant but also ingeniously subtle, meaning he doesn't resort to loads of flashy visuals to tell the story. It's a film which rewards repeat viewings enormously, and the film is so layered and complex that you'll constantly be re-interpreting the film and noticing new details. TTH is a really excellent drama and an unusually intelligent one at that. It shows an auteur at the top of his game and to study and analyse the film is like studying and analysing a great novel. It's a film that's really worth checking out, just don't read any spoilers beforehand. It may not be a thriller, but it will leave you breathless.9/10

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.

Pedro Almodóvar 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 Camára) 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 (Darío 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 Niño de Valencia" (Adolfo Fernández), 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.