Even among all directors, Almodóvar is still a maverick. His films have always had an exotic charm, telling a shocking story in a slow but unmistakable tone, with characters so persuasive that one might overlook the curious nature of the story itself.
"Talk to Her" is different from Almodovar's previous works. This film rarely sets women as the subject, but uses women as the carrier to explore two men's views on love and two attitudes towards the will to life. , Two kinds of spiritual choices in the face of worldly dilemmas.
The story begins with a stage play: two mentally ill actresses are hysterical on stage, while the men beside them are extremely considerate to protect them. And the film's leading actors, Mark and Benino, were deeply moved by sitting off the stage. But their reactions were quite different.
Mark burst into tears, and Benino, at least on the surface, didn't show any sadness. That's where Almodóvar's sophistication comes in. Every part of his film foreshadows what's to come, yet remains ambiguous.
Mark is a reporter for a newspaper. One day, she saw the report of the female bullfighter Lydia at home, so she became curious and wanted to conduct an exclusive interview with the female bullfighter. It can be seen that Lydia is as fierce as a bullfight in her relationship, always taking the initiative, moths to flames.
On the other hand, Mark, on the other hand, is indecisive and weak. He never refuses or expresses his position on feelings, and there is no clear value trend in his heart.
When he helped Lydia drive away the snake at home, he would think of his ex-girlfriend and shed tears; he would listen to the sad melody in music and couldn't extricate himself from it; after he and Lydia had confirmed their relationship, he still couldn't refuse Li The entanglement of Dia's ex-boyfriend.
In the face of life, he has a self-righteous sense of mission, which stems from his deep attachment to his ex-girlfriend. It's not that he loves his ex-girlfriend deeply, but of all the women he's met, his ex-girlfriend fits his deepest emotional orientation the most. As for Lydia, he has always been confused because she has never met such a passionate woman. She is like a warrior in the bullring, but she is a real little girl in life. Mark could feel the sparks of the two souls colliding, but deep inside he was shaped by his ex-girlfriend, and he didn't dare to break it.
In the end, while he was still hesitating, Lydia had an accident in the bullring and left her.
Lydia's accident is so sad. She had previously challenged one person to fight six cows with ease. And why did it fail this time? In my opinion, this is not an accident, but Lydia's most emotional and moth-to-the-fire confession to Mark.
Before the bullfight began, all the bullfighters were standing in the distance, ready to go, but Lydia was kneeling, facing the door. The calm and determined look in her eyes showed her determination. She knew that Mark was still in a state of entanglement and hesitation, and she also knew that she was powerless to break this state, so she could only do this, in this way, she would rather be broken than broken, and asked Mark to take care of her for the rest of her life and never leave her.
The character of Mark has a weak and easy-to-give-up temperament in his bones, but what he shows is a kind of careless prodigal son. This subconscious inadvertent disguise is precisely what makes him charming.
And Almodovar hides it in detail in the plot, allowing us to discover it. For the audience, to be able to glimpse the ugly side of a man who is excellent in all aspects, let us discover the imperfections and flaws in the deepest part of the character, so that the audience can experience the true texture of the character building.
And the other male lead in this film, Benino - he is not as attractive as Mark and can win the favor of many women. But he represents the most extreme emotion in human nature . His feelings for Alicia are not purely male and female, but the first sexual enlightenment object he met after taking care of his mother for decades. After Alicia became a vegetative person, he was more inclined to become the "father" image that had been absent from his subconscious mind.
The role of Benino is the exact opposite of Mark. In essence, he has the valuable qualities of firmness and persistence. He can give up everything for love, and he has a clear emotional orientation in his heart, because in the past twenty years he has never touched any woman, so his heart is still a blank sheet of paper and has never been shaped .
Because he believed in love at first sight, he would follow her because he was fascinated by Alicia at the first meeting; he would go to his house to find her by lying about his psychological problems; take care of her.
And the most interesting thing is that outside his firm, moth-to-fire inner world, there is this weak and easy-going temperament on the surface. This is just the opposite of Mark, which is Almodovar's genius. At first I always thought that the actors who played Mark and Benino could be swapped. Only later did I understand what Almodóvar meant by doing so.
The contrasting temperament presented by the difference between the surface and the depths of the character is the most flamboyant and realistic sense of life. In our hearts, there must be things that are diametrically opposed to the surface and unwilling to present. Like, who would have thought that gentlemen in suits and ties were rapists?
The climax of the whole film is Benino "raping" Alicia. Almodovar could have used large-scale shots to stimulate the audience's senses. But he used the one-in-one film "Shrinking Lover" to give people another extreme visual stimulation.
"Shrinking Lover" is about: After countless experiments, the female scientist Amparo finally formulated the dream slimming potion. In order to show her selfless feelings, her boyfriend Ivordo boldly drank the potion. But the potion had side effects, and Ivordor's body kept shrinking. Even though Amparo came up with all kinds of solutions, he still couldn't stop her boyfriend from shrinking.
And while her girlfriend Amparo was asleep, her boyfriend got into her vagina and merged with her.
Later, there was no sex scene, but a picture of a blend of water and milk. Everything has been revealed.
"Shrinked Lover", as a film in "Tell Her", the most brilliant part is to use the plot to promote the plot, and I can't help but admire Almodovar's unrestrained imagination and the genius of telling stories.
In the end, Lydia failed to survive and fell into a long slumber. And Alicia survived. At the end of the whole film, Alicia and Mark were also watching the stage play. Mark was shocked when he saw Alicia after the intermission. On the one hand, Alicia survived, on the other hand, he actually found his soul mate, and he finally broke the bondage her ex-girlfriend gave him. He really achieved the unity of personality and spirit.
At the end, Mark and Alicia smiled at each other without saying a word.
Throughout the film, Almodovar wears the cloak of curiosity, telling us the story of how those who follow the crowd pursue their true self, and how those who act from their heart keep the bottom line. At the end, Mark and Alicia are the victors in the brutal competition. And Benino and Lydia are both people who didn't keep the bottom line on the way to pursue themselves.
The dance at the end is just a happy ending in the mundane sense, but we have to face the cruel truth hidden in life.
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