"Talk to Her" and Neurophenomenology

"Talk to Her" is a 2002 Spanish drama by Pedro Almodovar about Marco Zuluaga, a journalist/ travel writer, and Benigno Martin, a nurse, who form a friendship while looking after the women they love who are both in comas. However, Marco finds out that his girlfriend, Lydia, had gotten back together with her ex weeks before her accident and Benigno's obsession with his patient, Alica, grows stronger and more delusional.

Neurophenomenology refers to the neuroscientific explanations of embodied experiences. This means that actions, emotions and sensations of others are mapped onto the observer's own sensory- motor and viscero- motor system. This simply means that we mirror the emotions and actions of the characters we witness on screen, from their emotions to their blinking or breathing. This is done through the mirror neurons which are motor neurons that discharge when the motor act is observed.

Elsaesser and Hagener's "Cinema as Skin and Touch" states that "we take in films somatically, with our whole body, and we are affected by images even before cognitive information processing or unconscious identification addresses and envelops us on another level. " When watching "Talk to Her", we grow to like these characters. We imprint ourselves on Marco as he seems closed off at first, similar to us as we are unfamiliar with the characters, but he soon opens up to Benigno who is shown to be  kind, caring yet awkward. Through his interactions with Marco we open up to him. After Marco leaves to travel, we are left watching Benigno when we learn that Alicia is pregnant, and Benigno is the prime suspect. When we first hear the implications of rape, like Benigno, we stiffen with shock and tension. We hope it wasn't Benigno despite the fact that he is infatuated with her, to the point where he openly talks about wanting to marry her. He is finally accused of the rape and like Benigno, we sink with sorrow, mirroring him as he slides down his chair a little. We are disappointed with Benigno for what he has done and once Marco hears about Benigno's actions and imprisonment,  he mirrors us as he too shares our emotions.