Talk to Her (2002)—Spanish

This film begins in one place by provoking questions about whether life in a persistent vegetative state is truly life, and whether and how a loved one might relate, if at all, to a person in a coma. It ends in a far different place. Marco is a travel writer whose girlfriend Lydia is in a coma. When he asks the doctor whether there is any hope, the doctor responds, "Medically or scientifically, no, but if you choose to believe, go ahead." The male nurse Benigno does believe. He truly loves the dancer Alicia, who is a patient of his also in a coma. He talks to her, baths her, cuts her hair, and tenderly cares for her. He tells Marcos that the last four years caring for her have been the richest and most rewarding years of his life. The film would have been good enough with just this trajectory, but director Pedro Almodovar drives three of these four subjects toward entirely unexpected and ambiguous ends that leave you with many more questions than answers. In Spanish with English subtitles.