Week 2: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Antonio Banderas and Carmen Maura return for another beautiful Almodóvar production. This time, Maura (aka Tina from Law of Desire) takes center stage – and rightly so. From the vivacious Tina to the clingy and miserable Pepa in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Maura showcases her magnificent range (something Almodóvar surely could not have missed in casting her). In Women, Maura takes on a weaker role: a heartbroken woman prone to fainting spells and self-medication. But this isn’t some depressing drama on heartbreak. NO SIR. It’s a hilarious look at the relationships between men and women. It’s a light-hearted slap in the face of masculinity. It’s a telenovela for the big screen.

In Women, Almodóvar explores a different territory than he did in Law of Desire. Labeled with an inconsequential R rating, the film departs from explicit material like sex or drugs (well, if you exclude the copious intake of sleeping pills). It’s certainly no wonder that this lighter fare was what launched Almodóvar's work into the international arena and garnered him the well-deserved acclaim (with Academy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations). This is the work of a budding auteur, whose signature is just beginning to strengthen with a wider audience.

From the beautiful title cards to a more stylistic and consistent use of bright color, the signature is quite clear. The indelible, albeit spotty, instances of his earlier films (i.e., Eva’s scarlet dress in Matador and Pablo’s silk shirt in Law of Desire), are replaced by a more prevalent and dizzyingly saturated color presence. This also makes more sense for Women in particular because of its lighter mood.

The heavy subject matter aside, Women merely addresses the rather common issue of adultery. Maura plays a woman whose lover has recently left her. As she tries to track him down, her path crosses with those of the other women in his life (his wife as well as his new mistress). Such encounters produce hilarious, telenovela-esque results. Telenovelas (or Spanish soap operas) are known for their intense melodrama (even more than their American counterparts) and are often marked by hysterical Latin lovers, runny mascara, and a healthy amount of slapping. There’s no runny mascara in Women, but a frantic Pepa running to catch a cab after being splashed in the face with a spicy gazpacho makes up for it. There’s certainly no shortage of laugh-out-loud moments. In one scene, the movie briefly touches on the issue of terrorism as Pepa’s friend Candela tells her that she unintentionally housed Shi’ite terrorists after sleeping with one of them – the deadpan delivery of which is totally priceless.

I’m almost certain that this is Almodóvar at his funniest, but I hope I’m wrong. 

Bonus: Here's a hilarious in-movie jab at product placement (Subtitled)

Next up: Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)