Film: Hable con Ella
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain
Released: March 2002
Runtime: 112 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: El Deseo
Influenced: Paul Schrader, Alejandro González Iñárritu, David O. Russell, Julio Medem, Lucrecia Martel
Almodóvar's title for his 2002 film, Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), was chosen carefully to reflect its key theme of communication, both verbal and non-verbal. The characters grapple with loneliness, desire and the complexities of human connection, and the director's great achievement with this film – arguably his masterpiece – is to make us sympathetic to them all despite some of their sick deeds. Almodóvar has built a reputation for exploring controversial themes in his films, and the screenplay for Hable con Ella delves into the morally ambiguous relationships its lead characters develop with women in deep comas. The plot revolves around two men, Benigno Martin (Javier Cámara) and Marco Zuluaga (Darío Grandinetti). Both characters are brought together by unusual circumstances. Benigno is a nurse who takes care of Alicia Roncero (Leonor Watling), a beautiful young dancer who is in a coma after a car accident. Marco, on the other hand, is a journalist who becomes friends with Benigno after his girlfriend falls into a coma.
The character of Benigno is inspired by a real-life event that Almodóvar read about, involving a nurse who fell in love with a female patient in a coma. The director has mentioned in interviews that he pays close attention to people around him, drawing inspiration from real-life situations and characters, and this observational approach played a role in crafting the authentic and relatable characters in Hable con Ella. Marco is assigned to interview female bullfighter Lydia González (played by musician Rosario Flores) for a newspaper magazine feature. Marco's character is depicted as reserved and contemplative, a contrast to the more extroverted and emotional characters in the film. One of my favourite early scenes is seeing Lydia getting dressed as a matador, an insight into both a long-standing Spanish tradition and her commitment to her craft. Here and elsewhere, the pacing of the film is slow and deliberate, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the characters' emotions and dilemmas.
As well as the screenplay, another outstanding feature of the movie is the soundtrack, featuring a mix of classical music, including compositions by regular Almodóvar collaborator Alberto Iglesias, and a special performance by the legendary Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso. His performance of Cucurrucucú Paloma is one of the movie's highlights, and the director's use of a Mexican ranchera sung by a Brazilian artist contributes to the film's international appeal. Almodóvar strategically places Veloso's melancholy performance within a pivotal flashback scene, adding a melancholic quality to its themes of love, heartbreak and loss. It's no coincidence that Marco is also seen reading The Hours by Michael Cunningham, a novel that explores similar emotional territory. Other artistic pleasures that the director nests within the film include a performance of Café Müller, a dance-theatre piece by Pina Bausch, where we first see Benigno and Marco seated next to each other, and the surreal silent film-within-a-film, The Shrinking Lover, about a miniature man who seeks refuge in his lover’s vagina.
Hable con Ella received widespread critical acclaim and won several awards. At the 2002 Academy Awards, the film won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, while Almodóvar was also nominated for the Best Director award. The film was likewise recognised at Cannes, where it won the Best Director award for Almodóvar, and also received the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s a film that you almost instantly watch to watch again to pick up on all the layers of complexity, and it does indeed make more sense and have more emotional depth on repeat viewings. As well as the rich and complex screenplay, the film is also visually striking, with vibrant colours and meticulous cinematography, which Almodóvar achieved in collaboration with cinematographer José Luis Alcaine. It's also notable how Almodóvar strikes a delicate and perfect balance between drama and comedy, using humour to alleviate the heaviness of the challenging subject matter.
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