Pedro Almodóvar hasn’t made a bad film yet, and his latest – the hugely acclaimed Talk To Her – doesn’t disappoint. As vibrant and colourful as anything the auteur has served up, and further evidence of his increasing tendency towards sedate, melancholic contemplation, it’s arguably a notch overwrought – but very few English-language films this year have contained half as much edgy tension or narrative depth.

Plot: two men meet at a performance-art exhibition, and their paths cross again months later when Marco (Grandinetti)’s bullfighting girlfriend Lydia (Flores), gored into a coma, ends up at the same clinic where male nurse Benigno (Camara) tends to comatose ballet student Alicia (Leonor Watling). The two men’s friendship evolves over the course of the film, with Almodóvar arguably laying on the male-bonding extremely thick and fast, but the supremely-plotted rollercoaster confluence of life-changing events that ensues should lay any objections to waste.

Almodóvar’s 14th film in a career full of curiosities might not win over new fans in droves, but it confirms his position as a unique talent who looks likely to remain at the forefront of international arthouse for some time to come.