Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) through the lens of gender.
In the 2002 film Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), Spanish writer-director Pedro Almodóvar plays with the ambiguity of gender, transcending conventional assumptions about "masculinity" and "femininity." Each of the four main characters holds complex, varied, and, in some cases, gender-bending gender identifications. The theme of gender plasticity is a prominent motif in this film. However, underlying the narrative, there is also a perverse subtext that relies on rigidly binary gender stereotypes to define relationships between men and women. Both these views of gender which operate dialectically, create a complex tapestry through which Almodóvar explores his characters' problems in attaining intimacy.
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, USA. jyanof@erols.com
Judith A
JA
Yanof
D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019365:Metaphor; D009040:Motion Pictures; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D013240:Stereotyping