Operatic Comatose

Last night I watched another masterpiece, my first encounter with the famous director. From the very first scene, where in a stage show, a woman is wandering here and there, as if under spell and a man is rushing to remove obstacles (chairs) from her way, I was pretty sure about the intensity of things to come my way. Its about two men nursing their beloveds, now in coma.

'Talk to her' is a tale of love, devotion, loneliness, longing, miracles and probably hope too. Unlike what I thought initially, it is not grim tale but has its moments of humor and images on screen are rich in style. It shows two men (A nurse (Benigno) and a travel journalist (Marco)), happily devoting their lives to the care of someone (a ballerina (Alicia) and a metador (Lydia )) who may never know about it. As you can see, there is a bit role reversal here, a lady bullfighter and a male nurse.

I am not able to fully understand the relation between Marco and Lydia (second viewing should help) and in the movie it looks truncated at a point but the unusual relationship between Benigno and Alicia is the one which is dealt with operatic beauty. There are no dialogues (almost nil) between the two, there are only monologues between them and we get to know much of their story through flashbacks and the deep discussions between Marco and Benigno.

This movie is about complex, unsaid emotions, the emotions here are moving to an extent that you feel all the sympathy for Benigno, who has raped a girl in coma, for he had said much earlier in the movie that "These last four years have been the richest of my life." and shown all the dedication to his words.

The DVD also contained a trailer of 'All about my mother', which I suppose is the next Almodovar movie I am going to watch.