Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
Almodóvar's Talk to Her is a singular cinematic achievement — its layered, morally complex narrative about love, obsession, and caretaking is unlike anything else in world cinema. The interweaving of bullfighting, silent film pastiche (Shrinking Lover sequence), and deeply ambiguous ethics of care gives it extraordinary novelty. Performances from Javier Cámara and Darío Grandinetti are nuanced and deeply felt, and Almodóvar's direction with Pedro Almodovar's signature warm palette and precise framing elevates the cinematography. The ending, while emotionally resonant and thematically coherent, is slightly more conventionally bittersweet than the film's daring midsection, making it the one category where the film settles into something slightly more expected.