Javier Cámara can make us fond of a character before we have quite worked out what he wants. We rate him most highly when that friendliness becomes troubling, as it does in Talk to Her.
Fi1m perspective
In Talk to Her (2002), Javier Cámara’s Benigno is so attentive that we begin by giving him the benefit of the doubt. Cámara lets us see the appeal of being cared for before asking what the carer might expect in return. It is an unsettling use of an actor’s warmth, and a good reason to seek out his work. We have to do the judging ourselves.
Early recognition came through broad comedy, with Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law (1998) and the television sitcom 7 Vidas bringing him wider notice. Talk to Her then gave his dramatic work an international audience. He returned to Almodóvar for Bad Education (2004). Later roles include Antonio, a teacher in Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013), and Tomás in Truman (2015). We would not treat the comedy as an apprenticeship for the serious work: making a flawed person approachable is useful in both.
Almodóvar gets particular value from Cámara’s willingness to let care and self-interest coexist. In Talk to Her, Darío Grandinetti’s Marco gives Benigno a convincing friend without making the two men seem like versions of the same lonely person. We were moved by their friendship because both actors make the need for company feel so credible. Their scenes together keep us interested in the men even when the director’s theatrical flourishes pull our attention elsewhere.
The difficulty is that Talk to Her can be too forgiving of its men, a reservation that matters because Cámara has made Benigno so easy to feel for. We would have liked Almodóvar to give us more reason to question the generosity that Cámara encourages. That does not diminish the acting, but it makes this a film to watch with some care about whose feelings are being indulged. Start with Talk to Her, and be a little less forgiving than the film.
Biography
Javier Cámara Rodríguez is a Spanish actor. Born on 19 January 1967 in Albelda de Iregua, La Rioja, he trained at the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid and worked as an usher at the Fígaro Theatre while studying. His stage debut came in 1991 with a production of El caballero de Olmedo.
Cámara first gained wide recognition in Spain through the television series 7 Vidas and the film Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law (1998). He became internationally known for his role as Benigno in Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her (2002), and has appeared in further Almodóvar films including Bad Education (2004) and I’m So Excited! (2013). Other notable credits include Sex and Lucía (2001), Truman (2015), the series Narcos (2015) and The Young Pope (2016).
