Talk to Her, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, is a story about love of men for women. On-screen titles tell us of three pairings. Marco and Lydia, the first pair, are brought together because Marco (played by Darío Grandinetti) is a travel writer who gets himself assigned to do a feature story about Lydia (played by Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter. Although she does not want a tawdry exposé, she accepts a ride from him, and then values his friendship when he kills a snake that her nasty lover has left in her apartment. They continue to see each other, without an interview, until Lydia is injured in the bullring and lies in a coma. Marco somehow feels guilty and visits Lydia in the hospital. Benigno and Alicia, the second pair, meet one day when Benigno (played by Javier Cámara) picks up an object that fell out of the handbag of Alicia (played by Leonor Watling). Previously, Benigno had been eyeing Alicia at ballet rehearsals from the window of his apartment across the street, so he chases after her when she drops the object, hoping to make her acquaintance. Grateful, she allows him to walk her home, where Benigno learns that her father is a psychiatrist. Benigno then makes an appointment with the psychiatrist to be closer to her, and he even shocks her as she exits towelclad from a shower, while he lingers in the apartment after his first and only appointment. Subsequently, she is in an auto accident and lies in a coma for four years. Benigno decides to become an orderly at the hospital where she is kept, and he daily takes loving care of her, including sensual massages. Although Benigno and Marco sit next to each other at a concert one day, they do not meet until they are both at the same hospital. Benigno, trying to revive Alicia, has been talking to her daily, and he urges Marco to do the same to Lydia. Marco believes that the idea is absurd but values his friendship with Benigno. In time, Lydia dies, but Alicia revives. Benigno, in an effort to revive Alicia, decides to place his sperm into her vagina, although he pretends to be gay in order to avoid culpability. However, when Alicia misses two periods, Benigno is implicated in a rape and is committed to Sevilla Prison, outside Madrid, as a mental patient. Meanwhile, Alicia miscarries but regains consciousness, just as Benigno hoped. In a permutation of the Romeo and Juliet story, Marco fails to tell Benigno of Alicia’s revival and thus is unable to head off Benigno’s determination to take an overdose of pills, committing suicide in order to be nearer to her. There is a third pairing, also announced by a title, at the end of the film, yet another tragicomedic touch, which is quintessentially Spanish according to the director. Talk to Her points out how the human need for love can inspire strange and powerful, even obsessive, responses in those who are unable to receive reciprocation. MH