Comedy and Deception in Almodóvar's 'Talk to Her'
Explore the themes of humor, deception, and psychology in Almodóvar's film "Talk to Her." Delve into the subtle humor of the characters' dialogue, the psychology behind their actions, and the complexities of relationships portrayed. Discover the intertwined stories of Marco and Benigno, and the layers of comedy and tragedy that unfold throughout the narrative.
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Presentation Transcript
A CELEMN OF SHIT: COMEDY AND DECEPTION IN ALMOD VAR S TALK TO HER BY C.D.C. REEVE
OVERVIEW The chapter talks about the humour that exists within the film, but it talks about less comedy and more subtle humour in what the characters are saying. It also touches on some of the psychology of the characters, such as Marco and Lydia s relationship and why they end up together. It questions what sort of person Marco is, having been in a relationship with a 15 year old.
HUMOUR Una mierda como un cel min Shit like a bushel According to Almodovar, this line doesn t work nearly as well without English subtitles. A cel min is a unit of measurement which was used to measure wheat. A lot of people don t know what that is, but there s no other way to say it humourously enough in Spanish. This line is used by the receptionist when she says she needs to take an elephant sized dump . Reeve points out that a lot of the exchanges that go on in Talk to Her are funny, but the topics of conversation are not. For example one conversation that is had by Lydia s sister and Antonio involves a story about nuns who were raped, the manager says that they surely all can t be rapists and Antonio says everybody likes to fuck
PSYCHOLOGY The rest of this chapter of the essay talks about the psychology of the characters, why we sympathise with Benigno and why Marco might not be such a great guy in the beginning. Marco We learn he isn t a completely unflawed character when we realise he dated someone who was possibly younger than 15 when he was in his 30 s. Although because he seems to be in a constant state of regret whenever he thinks of her, we re almost guided into sympathising with him anyway and disregarding the age gap. When Lydia cries during the wedding ceremony, we re not entirely sure why until later on when it turns out during this time she had gotten back together with El Nino. But at the time Marco thinks it s because she believes he s still not over Angela. For the past month during that time she had been thinking of someone else and Marco hasn t noticed, he was thinking of himself.
PSYCHOLOGY (CONT) Marco (Cont) Whilst Benigno is blinded by the false concept of Alicia s love, Marco is blinded by the false concept of others judging him for his past actions. Benigno Benigno s misunderstanding of Alicia s rape almost reflects Marco s misunderstanding of Lydia s crying. Benigno doesn t see what he did as wrong because he believes that Alicia loves him back. A lot of his psychology is shown through his sexuality, many people think he s gay simply because he hasn t had any lovers before, and when the psychologist brings it up, you feel as though there s an uncomfortable reason behind this.
MARCO AND BENIGNO Benigno is shown to live on through Marco towards the end of the film. This is shown through how he takes Benigno s apartment and looks at the ballet class through the window. Compared to earlier on in the film when Marco didn t see the point of talking to people who can t hear, when Benigno dies he weeps and talks to Benigno, despite him being completely unable to hear anything. The very end of the film shows Marco and Alicia making eye contact, whether they have a romantic relationship or not is up to us to decide, however Benigno is the one who initially loved Alicia so by Marco allegedly falling in love with her Benigo continues to live through him.
