Main Cast: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Fernando Guillén, Julieta Serrano, Maria Barranco, Rossy de Palma
Release Year: 1988
Country: ES
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Though the kinky characters and aberrant social behavior common to the works of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar are very evident in his Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the film is at heart a door-slamming farce in the grand tradition. The tiny apartment of pregnant actress Carmen Maura is the "Grand Central Station" setpiece for this dizzying tale. Distraught over her recent breakup with her lover, Carmen prepares to overdose on sleeping pills, which she blends into a gazpacho so they'll go down easier. She is diverted from her suicide by her best friend Maria Barranco, a fugitive from justice (her boy friend is a Shi'Ite terrorist) who needs a place to stay. Later, when Carmen's apartment is empty, her ex-lover's grown son (Antonio Banderas) comes to the apartment with his fiance (Rossy de Palma) in answer to Carmen's "room to let" newspaper ad. The wife inadvertently ingests Carmen's "pill sauce," and as she blissfully snoozes, the husband inaugurates an affair with Carmen's friend Barranco. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Pedro Almodóvar at his outrageous best, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is the most delightful of farces: charming and kinetic, it envelops a message of strange lucidity in a package of vibrant absurdity. Everything in the film's parallel universe abides by its own bizarre but oddly rational logic, from the premise that a forgotten pitcher of sleeping pill-spiked gazpacho meant for one person's suicide will of course be consumed by someone else, to the idea that no matter how much of a lout your ex-lover may be, he's no match for the Shiite terrorist your best friend happens to be dating. Throw in the ex-lover's gun-toting, bewigged wife; a tangle of friends, lovers, and their previously unheard-of relations who all show up at the same place; and a bed set afire by a stray cigarette, and you have the unique reality of Pedro Almodóvar. Almodóvar had previously directed a number of films that found success (and, more often than not, controversy) in his native Spain, such as Matador, Law of Desire, and What Have I Done to Deserve This?, but none reached the level of international acclaim achieved by Women. A stylish, sophisticated farce, it was a perfect blend of the director's candy-colored vision and his offbeat, devilishly witty brand of humor. In addition to establishing him as a master of farce, the film enhanced Almodóvar's reputation as a woman's director and solidified his standing as an important figure in world cinema, with many critics hailing him as the most significant Spanish director since Luis Buñuel. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Kiti Manver - Paulina; Chus Lampreave; Yayo Calvo; Loles Leon; Ángel de Andrés Lopez; Agustín Almodóvar - Empleado Inmobiliaria; Lupe Barrado - Secretaria Paulina; Jose Marco - Padrino; Imanol Uribe - Marido; Guillermo Montesinos; Gabriel Latorre - Cura
Credit
Jose Maria de Cossio - Costume Designer, Pedro Almodóvar - Director, José Salcedo - Editor, Agustín Almodóvar - Executive Producer, Bernardo Bonezzi - Composer (Music Score), Jose Luis Alcaine - Cinematographer, Esther Garcia - Production Manager, Pedro Almodóvar - Producer, Gilles Ortion - Sound/Sound Designer, Pedro Almodóvar - Screenwriter
