Hable con Ella DVD 2002 Talk to her / Directed by Pedro Almodóvar / Starring: Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Geraldine Chaplin, Rosario Flores

UPC 7321926936505

REGION 2 PAL DVD  

MADE IN SPAIN

AUDIO: Spanish (Castilian) 5.1

SUBTITLES: Spanish (Castilian) HOH

RUN TIME: 109 minutes

English Summary:

Talk to Her (Spanish: Hable con ella) is a 2002 Spanish drama written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Geraldine Chaplin, and Rosario Flores. The film follows two men who form an unlikely friendship as they care for two women who are both in comas. The film's themes include bodily autonomy and violation, the boundary between life and death, versions of love predicated on possession, and gender, gaze, voyeurism, passivity, agency, complicity, obsession, and psychoanalysis.

The story unfolds in flashbacks, giving details of two separate relationships that become intertwined with each other.

During a performance of Café Müller, a dance-theatre piece by Pina Bausch, Benigno Martín and Marco Zuluaga cross paths, but the two men are no more than strangers. Still, Benigno notices that Marco cries.

Marco is a journalist and travel writer who happens to see a TV interview with Lydia González, a famous matador. He thinks that an article on her would be interesting and, on the instructions of his editor, he contacts her in a bar, where she asks him to take her to her house. As they talk, she elaborates on the fact that she broke up with her boyfriend “el Niño de Valencia”, another matador, something that has been all over the tabloids. As Marco confesses that he knows nothing of bullfighting and that he is a journalist, she becomes angry and leaves his car without saying a word. As he drives off, he hears a scream inside her house and stops; Lydia rushes off and climbs back into his car: she asks him to kill a snake that she found in her house. He does so and comes out of the house crying. With that new confidence established between them, they become friends and, later on, lovers. Marco attends a wedding in Toledo and is surprised to find Lydia there too, since she had said that she did not want to go. The wedding turns out to be that of Marco's former fiancée, Ángela, who had the same phobia of snakes as Lydia; Marco was very much in love with Ángela and had a very hard time getting over her (which was the reason for his constant crying over things he could not share with her). Lydia says that she has something important to say, but she prefers to wait until after the bullfight that afternoon; but she is gored and becomes comatose. Marco does not leave her side at the hospital and finally befriends Benigno, who recognizes him from the dance-theatre performance. Marco is told by the doctors that people in a coma never wake up and that, while there are miracle-stories of people who have come back, he should not keep his hopes high.

Spanish Summary:

Benigno, un enfermero, y Marco, un escritor maduro, coinciden en un espectáculo de Pina Bausch, Café Müller. En el escenario, dos mujeres con los ojos cerrados y los brazos extendidos se mueven al compás de The Fairy Queen de Henry Purcell. La emoción de Marco es tal que rompe a llorar. Meses más tarde, los dos hombres vuelven a encontrarse en la clínica privada El Bosque, donde Benigno trabaja. Lydia, la novia de Marco, torera de profesión, está en coma después de sufrir una cogida de un toro, mientras que Alicia una joven bailarina ha sufrido un accidente automovilístico debido al cual quedó en coma, teniendo a Benigno como su enfermero. 

Cast / Reparto:

• Javier Cámara: Benigno Martín, enfermero.
• Darío Grandinetti: Marco Zuluaga, periodista y escritor de guías turísticas.
• Leonor Watling: Alicia Roncero, paciente en coma.
• Rosario Flores: Lydia González, torera.
• Mariola Fuentes: Rosa.
• Geraldine Chaplin: Katerina Bilova, profesora de baile de Alicia.
• Adolfo Fernández: el Niño de Valencia, torero.
• Ana Fernández: hermana de Lydia.
• Lola Dueñas: Matilde, enfermera.
• Carmen Machi: Enfermera jefe.
• Roberto Álvarez: Doctor Vega.
• Elena Anaya: Ángela, ex-novia de Marco.
• Paz Vega: Amparo, personaje del cortometraje mudo Amante menguante.
• Fele Martínez: Alfredo, personaje del cortometraje mudo Amante menguante.
• Sonia Grande: Madre de Alfredo, personaje del cortometraje mudo Amante menguante.
• Chus Lampreave: portera del edificio de Benigno.
• Pina Bausch: bailarina del Café Müller.
• Malou Airaudo: bailarín del Café Müller.
• Caetano Veloso.
• Juan Carlos Martínez Antuña: Mozo de espadas en la corrida toros.
• Helio Pedregal: Padre de Alicia
• José Sancho: Agente del niño de Valencia.
• Beatriz Santiago: Enfermera.
• Mamen Segovia: Enfermera.
• Ismael Martínez: Enfermero.
• Joserra Caldiñanos: Director del hospital.
• Juan Fernández: Director de la prisión.
• Loles León: Presentadora de tv.
• Agustín Almodóvar: Cura.
• Jaime Fernández-Cid Buscató: Sacristán.
• Carlos García Cambero: Cuñado de Lydia.
• Ben Lindbergh: Ben.
• Adela Donamaría: Recepcionista del psiquiatra.
• Michel Ruben: Abogado.
• Yuyi Beringola: Recepcionista del abogado.
• Lola García: Recepcionista del hospital.
• Carlos Miguel Miguel: Oficial.
• Esther García: Oficial.
• Ángel Infantes: Yiyo.