Description
Book SynopsisTalk to Her (2002) is a hugely rich and interesting though ambiguous film that met with both popular success and critical acclaim. The film won an Oscar for best original screenplay and has been hailed by some critics as Pedro Almodóvar's masterpiece. Yet like most of Almodóvar's films, little is clear cut. The characters are complex and our affinity and empathy for them shifts throughout the film. In
Studying Talk to Her, Emily Hughes provides an in-depth analysis of both the formal elements of the film (its narrative, genre, and auteur study) and the themes and issues it raises, discussing the social context of modern Spain and its old, traditional iconography; shifting attitudes towards gender; and, crucially, the film's uneasy, morally ambiguous depiction of rape and the spectator's reaction to it.
Table of ContentsFact sheet and synopsis
Introduction
Almodóvar as an Auteur
Mise-en-scène and Cinematography
Gender
Physicality and The Body
Messages and Values: Rape and Moral Ambiguity
Psychoanalysis
Themes
Genre and Narrative
Audience and Critical Response
Summary
Glossary
Bibliography
