Marco cross paths when they both attend the same dance performance, only to eventually meet again at a private clinic where Benigno works. There he is the personal nurse and caregiver of Alicia, a beautiful dance student who lies in a coma and with whom Benigno has become obsessed. Marco, a journalist and travel writer, is at the clinic to visit his girlfriend Lydia, a famous matador who is also comatose after being gored by a bull. As the men stand vigil over these women, the story unfolds in a flashback and flash forward motif, telling the lives of the four with respect to their relationships. Marco leaves Lydia when her previous lover informs him that they had reunited a month before Lydia's accident.
Marco leaves Spain for Jordan to write a tourist guide, where he reads in a newspaper that Lydia has died in her coma.
Meanwhile, Benigno is accused of raping Alicia, who is discovered to be pregnant, believing their contact to be love. It is not revealed whether Benigno is guilty of raping her, but it is strongly implied. Benigno is put into prison in Segovia for this, and a short time later he ingests a large quantity of pills to try to put himself into a coma, thus reuniting himself with Alicia. However, the pills kill Benigno. Ironically Alicia wakes up during or sometime after childbirth. The baby is stillborn, and Alicia begins rehabilitation to recover her walking ability. The film ends with Marco, sitting two rows in front of Alicia, turning around and smiling at her for a moment, and then turning back around.
The play "Trenches", by Alicia's dance teacher, mirrors the events that unfold in the movie. In the play, whenever a soldier dies, a ballerina rises from the body. In the movie, when Benigno dies, Alicia (a ballerina herself) is reborn and rises?
Posted By: Tombs, Nov 5, 15:52:48
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