1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hable_con_ella.jpg]] |
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3 | ''Talk to Her'' (''Hable con ella'') is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama film by Creator/PedroAlmodovar. It features Marco, a writer and Benigno an orderly, who both struggle with the implications of the women of their lives being stuck in a persistent vegetative state. |
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5 | The film begins with Marco, an otherwise tough and masculine man being brought to tears while seeing a ballet. Next to him is Benigno a sweet, harmless looking dude who is moved by Marco's reaction. They almost meet, but they don't. |
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7 | Next we see Benigno back at his job at the clinic, taking care of a very very pretty young girl in a coma, named Alicia. We quickly find out that he is deeply in love with her, and only works at this clinic to be close to her. |
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9 | We learn that Marco is a sad, sensitive man who pines for a lost love. He is given an assignment to interview a fiery but emotionally damaged woman named Lydia, who happens to be a bull fighter. Although their meeting is initially fraught, the two eventually hit it off and become lovers. |
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11 | Through a series of flash backs and flash forwards, we learn more about Marco's relationship with Lydia until she is gored by a bull and put in a coma. |
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13 | As it happens, Lydia and Alicia are in the same clinic and the Benigno remembers Marco from the ballet. Both of them are in the same situation, so they become friends. |
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15 | Their friendship and Marco's acceptance of Lydia's state is the focus of the film. |
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17 | !!This film is an example of the following tropes: |
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19 | * AuthorAppeal: |
20 | ** Seems like most of Almodovar's movies have Matadors in them. Just sayin'. |
21 | ** The {{Deconstruction}} of various sexuality-related themes is a broader example. |
22 | * BeastlyBloodsports: Lydia is a bullfighter. Her profession is not questioned, and may even add to her sex appeal. |
23 | %%* {{Bifauxnen}}: Lydia, Marco's girlfriend. |
24 | * BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Played with. [[spoiler:Alicia give birth to a stillborn child, but wakes from her coma (essentially coming back to life) because of it. However, Benigno dies shortly after.]] |
25 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Even though Lydia dies, Alicia eventually wakes up and it is strongly implied that Marco and Alicia end up together.]] |
26 | * CloudCuckoolander: Sheltered Benigno's main reason for being sympathetic is that he doesn't really know any better. His disconnect with reality is so extreme it sends him into {{Deconstruction}} territory. |
27 | * ConvenientComa: Subverted. [[spoiler:Lydia does die from her injuries without waking up, as predicted by the doctor. Alicia does wake up, however.]] |
28 | * ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Benigno urges Marco to do so with Lydia, as he himself regularly does this with Alicia. |
29 | * DisappearedDad: Benigno's father left his family to start fresh in another country. |
30 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Benigno, though he wasn't exactly trying to commit suicide. He wanted to put himself in a coma, to be closer to Alicia.]] |
31 | %%* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Two, both really in a coma, though strictly speaking [[spoiler: only one is a girlfriend]]. |
32 | %%** [[spoiler: Technically, ''neither'' of them are.]] |
33 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Alicia was in a coma for a long time, was raped by someone meant to take care of her and was only awakened by the birth of her stillborn child. Meanwhile, Marco loses a lover as well as a friend, and there's nothing he can do about it. Fortunately, each has a MaybeEverAfter in the other.]] |
34 | * FanDisservice: [[spoiler:The sensual massage Benigno gives Alicia reeks of this despite her beautiful body, especially as it becomes clear he's about to rape her.]] |
35 | * FilmWithinAFilm: "Amante Menguante" -- the black and white silent movie sequence. Silent film hero Alfredo takes a potion and becomes so small that he ends up wandering around on the body of the sleeping Amparo. He goes for a walk on her breasts and even climbs inside her vagina, his attentions giving her sweet, sexual dreams. |
36 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The doctor informs Marco that miracle awakenings from comas are possible, citing a patient who fell into a coma for years after giving birth. [[spoiler:Pregnancy will become key to getting Alicia out of her coma, too.]] |
37 | * InnocentFanserviceGirl: Even though Alicia is unconscious for almost the whole movie, she is presented in a notably erotic and/or sensual fashion, with several nude scenes. [[spoiler: She sensually half-smiles through most of them.]] |
38 | * IncredibleShrinkingMan: There's a subplot where Benigno sees a silent movie where a scientist develops a shrinking serum. Her boyfriend drinks it, [[spoiler: and then literally [[OrificeInvasion CRAWLS INSIDE HER VAGINA FOREVER]].]] |
39 | * IronicName: Benigno's name is Spanish for harmless, or benign, and is even referenced in one scene when he says to Alicia, "Don't worry. I'm harmless". It seems to fit him perfectly, until [[spoiler: he rapes Alicia]]. |
40 | * TheLadette: Alicia's father's secretary is quite coarse and rude and isn't shy about announcing that she just took a dump. |
41 | * ManlyTears: Marco sheds them quite often during the film. |
42 | * MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:The film ends with the surviving leads smiling at each other at the theater, with "Marco y Alicia" displayed on screen, as happened with the other couples.]] |
43 | * MayDecemberRomance: Lydia notes that Marco's ex is much younger than he is. [[spoiler:In the end, it's implied that the fortysomething Marco will get together with Alicia, who's in her twenties.]] |
44 | * MeaningfulName: Lampshaded with Lydia, which is similar to the Spanish "lidia." For those who don't know Spanish and can't wait for google translate to load, lidia means bullfight. Lydia is a bullfighter. |
45 | * MenDontCry: Averted, in a way that manages to make the man crying much more sympathetic. |
46 | * MissingMom: In a flashback, Alicia mentions to Benigno that her mother died a long time ago. |
47 | * MistakenForGay: Toyed around with (in the dramatic sense) in relation to Benigno, likely exposing the viewer's initial assumptions about the character in the process. |
48 | * MommasBoy: Benigno took care of his mother for practically his whole life, which helps make Alicia's father [[MistakenForGay suspect that he's gay.]] |
49 | * NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. [[spoiler:Alicia begins missing her period, which makes the doctors realize she's pregnant.]] |
50 | * OldFlame: Lydia had a tempestuous relationship with another matador, which was all over the tabloids. [[spoiler:Marco discovers that she was intending to return to him, which she never got a chance to tell him.]] |
51 | * ParentalSubstitute: As Alicia's mother passed away a long time ago, her dance teacher acts as her mother figure and spoils her in and out of the hospital. |
52 | * RapePortrayedAsRedemption: It's implied that the main reason that Alicia wakes up is [[spoiler:the birth of her stillborn child]]. |
53 | * RuleOfDrama: A lot of key things in the plot would only happen the movies. [[spoiler: Alicia waking up due to her pregnancy]] for example. |
54 | * StalkerWithACrush: Benigno's interaction with Alicia before she falls into a coma. He watches her dance practice from his apartment, follows her home, and books an appointment with her psychiatrist father just as an excuse to see her. |
55 | * TheStoic: Subverted with Marco. He ends up having a lot to cry about. And he does. |
56 | * TitleDrop: Benigno, giving advice to Marco. |
57 | * WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:Benigno has a moment like this with the clinic staff.]] |
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