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A SELF INTERVIEW
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Q: What was the inspiration for Talk To Her?
A: Several true incidents which happened in the last
ten years, of which I'd taken note.
1. An American woman awakens from a coma after sixteen
years. According to the doctors, her condition was irreversible.
I was really struck when I saw a photo of the woman
in El País, supported by two nurses and learning
to walk again. Her awakening contradicted everything
that science says about such cases.
2. In Rumania, the young night watchman in a morgue
feels attracted by the corpse of a young girl. The loneliness
of death added to the loneliness of the night resulted
in "too much loneliness", the young watchman
gives in to his desires and possesses the dead beauty.
What happens afterwards is one of those miracles of
human nature which I don't think the Pope would like
very much. As a reaction to the amorous harassment,
the dead girl comes to life. She'd been suffering from
a kind of catalepsy and only seemed to be dead. (I wasn't
the only person who took note of that incident. Two
years ago, in France, they made a film based on it).
Although the resuscitated girl's family was grateful
to the rapist, they couldn't prevent him being put in
jail. They brought him food parcels and got him a lawyer.
The unusual situation led to a curious dilemma: in the
eyes of the law the boy was just a rapist, but for the
family, whose reaction was ruled by their emotions,
the boy had brought their daughter back to life. It
was a wonderful story from start to finish and all of
it inspired me, including the "moral dilemma"
which also appears in Talk To Her.
3. In New York, a girl who's been in a coma for nine
years becomes pregnant (without awakening from the coma.
I don't know what happened when she gave birth). A few
days later, they discover that the culprit was an orderly
in the clinic. The question is, how can a body which
is clinically dead (death is determined by the brain)
beget life?
4. I believe it was Cocteau who said that "beauty"
can be painful. I suppose he was referring to the beauty
of people. I think that situations which involve moments
of unexpected, extraordinary beauty can bring tears
to your eyes, tears which have more to do with pain
than pleasure. Tears which fill the place in our eyes
of those who are absent.
5. Ever since I saw The Devil Doll and The Incredible
Shrinking Man I've dreamed about making a film with
a tiny person where the legs of the furniture and the
relief of the floor become the main set. In fact, I'd
already written a treatment about a story like that.
All those incidents and the memory of a love affair,
broken off when it was still alive, were my inspiration
for the script of Talk To Her.
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