Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Released 1988
Stars Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, Maria
Barranco, Kiti Manver, Guillermo Montesinos, Chus Lampreave, Yayo Calvo
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodovar creates a paean to wronged women, but does so with broad farce in this popular but slight comedy. Carmen Maura delivers nuanced work as the jilted protagonist, providing a rare sense of real humanity in an amusing but never terribly involving film.
Summary by
This is a light-weight farce, which means it's a comedy with more believable characters and less madcap silliness than most farces. Almodóvar could have taken this plot and created a very effective drama, and I wish he would have. As a comedy, it's just ok. There are funny moments, like the segment when Almodóvar builds the comic tension with the character of Candela. She's dying to unload her burden, and Pepa keeps putting her off and off and off... She almost has to kill herself to get Pepa's attention. I also liked the cab driver and the character of Pepa, who brought humanity to her role. But the movie wasn't quite funny enough for the comedy to soar. It's as if it took the characters too seriously but not seriously enough to grab me. Mostly I just wanted Candela (Maria Barranco) to take her top off. --Bill Alward, May 1, 2002