MADRID (REUTERS) — Pedro Almodovar’s new film, “Talk to Her,” should prove that even after winning an Oscar last year, the Spanish director is not about to join the establishment.
“Talk to Her” (“Hable con Ella”) is a story principally about loneliness, with a few of Almodovar’s habitual twists.
It centers on a male nurse in love with his comatose patient and the friendship he strikes up with the boyfriend of another comatose patient — an injured female matador.
The movie also is bound to stir controversy as it includes a sympathetic portrayal of a rapist.
“Any human with a heart and without prejudice can understand this movie because it’s about … very simple emotions,” Almodovar told reporters at a screening of the film, released Friday, March 15, in Spain and will be released in the rest of Europe this week.
Almodovar’s first film since 2000’s Oscar-winning “All About My Mother” is a thought-provoking drama partly based on fact, and there are many emotionally charged scenes — although it also provides the handful of belly laughs associated with the director’s earlier work.
There are also some powerful — and bloody — scenes of the matador in a bullfight, which could raise hackles among Almodovar’s English-speaking audience. Spanish animal rights activists complained of cruelty during filming, but a spokesman for the production company said they merely filmed a scheduled bullfight.
And, of course, the film is sexually explicit with breast shots of the beautiful comatose woman.
When asked whether the prestige of the Oscar had weighed on him during the making of the film, which he wrote and directed, Almodovar replied: “If people are prepared to watch the film with innocent eyes, it’s a demonstration of freedom and creativity.”
He denied that the character of the rapist was portrayed ambiguously.
“I don’t like this idea of judging (the protagonist). I explain who he is and how he is … and it’s evident that he understands things in another way, and lives in another world,” he said.
“I don’t condemn him, I understand that he is condemnable … it’s not so much ambiguity (portrayed in him), but the contradiction in human nature,” he said.
Almodovar has in the past sparked outrage among feminists. There was a famously ambiguous rape scene in 1993’s “Kika,” while 1990’s “Tie Me Up, Tie me Down” had Victoria Abril’s kidnapped porn star fall in love with Antonio Banderas’ ex-mental patient.
“Talk to Her” is the 14th film by the Spanish director, who has served as an outspoken ambassador for the nation’s film industry.
Almodovar, apparently now past the half-century mark (although his official biography only says that he was born “in the 1950s”), is the forerunner of a new generation of Spanish directors who have managed to make films which are both critically acclaimed as well as financially successful.
He has paved the way for a new wave of young directors who have revitalized Spain’s film industry, including Alejandro Amenabar — whose recent film “The Others” starring Nicole Kidman was a huge critical and public success — Julio Medem, Fernando Leon, Benito Zambrano and Ramon Salazar.
In fact, it was Almodovar who was chosen to present Spain’s top film prize, a Goya award for best director, to 29-year-old Amenabar earlier this year.
Amenebar, like Almodovar, writes his own scripts and sold a version of his “Open Your Eyes” to Tom Cruise’s production company. It was released earlier this year as “Vanilla Sky” starring Cruise.
The music and lyrics for “Vanilla Sky,” written by Paul McCartney, have been nominated for an Oscar.
Almodovar can also boast of having launched the careers of actors Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz and Victoria Abril, who appeared in his earlier films.
