Film: Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Release date: 4th December 2006
Certificate: 15
Running time: 85 mins
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, María Barranco
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Spain
Director Pedro Almodovar shot to international fame in 1988 when Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown was released. It was nominated for an Oscar and won numerous other awards, as well as smashing box office records in Spain. It is a stylish black comedy that oozes visual flair and a sharp sense of humour from start to finish.
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown tells the story of Pepa and her desperate attempts to contact her former lover Ivan, who has recently left her for an unknown woman.
The plot thickens when Pepa crosses paths with Lucia, Ivan’s ex-wife, who was recently released from a mental hospital and is convinced that he has vanished with Pepa. Then Pepa’s friend Candela arrives to announce that she is on the run after realising that her lover is a Shiite terrorist.
Things get very unhinged as the hysterical hunt closes in on the womanising Ivan…
Right from the very start, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown really fetishises femininity. The opening titles are a collage of old photos of female eyes, mouths, shoes and handbags. Throughout the movie, there are frequent close ups of various details of the female form. In many ways, the film creates an exaggerated identity of femininity on the edge, which shows both weakness and strength. The main male character is barely seen on screen, and his son, played by Antonio Banderas, is very much a mother’s boy. As the title suggests, this is very much a film about women.
Almodovar really puts his cast through their paces, and derives some very strong performances. Despite being a comedy, the acting is solemn and emotive, and there are some moments which are very dramatic rather than funny. Pepa constantly looks on the verge of tears, as do most of the characters. We might be having fun, but the characters certainly aren’t! The direction makes the story much more believable and gripping, whilst at the same time funny and entertaining. This is a tough mixture to get right, but its Almodovar’s forte.
The audience is never told when to laugh; this is high comedy, where the strength of the script generates the humour without the aid of canned laughter and comedic reactions. If you have seen any of Almodovar’s other films then you will be familiar with this dry, dark satirical style. Many of his more recent films have several strands of narrative, whereas Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is more conventional and linear by comparison.
However conventional it may be, there is a still strong sense of style, which is thematically inherent and distances the film from the mainstream. There is a striking mise-en-scène which bombards us with vibrant, bold colours in almost every shot. There are many conversations where the camera isn’t facing the characters faces, but is set behind them, placing shot composition above narrative norms. Towards the end of the movie, Lucia is framed from the side, above and behind. Every angle but head on! She is framed with scenery in the foreground, obscuring her body, and leaving us with an image of her apparently floating head. This sequence inspires laughter whilst at the same time building upon Lucia’s insanity, but it is very unorthodox.
Further to the vibrant colours and unconventional angles, there is an almost obsessive attention given to fashion and dressing up. We see Lucia don a wig, Pepa changing her outfit, Candela changes her dress, and each item of clothing we see is striking and bold. Just as we saw in the opening titles, femininity itself is being fetishised. The only problem with such a focus on fashion is that fashions constantly change. At the time the film was made, the fashions were very audacious, and the style appears completely outrageous by today’s standards. This makes the film look a bit dated now, but in a strange way, it also makes it funnier - and gives it a certain nostalgic charm.
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown also features several of references to sexuality, as with most Almodovar films. There is even a scene where a woman has an orgasm in her sleep! Once again, this sexual exploration is from the female perspective, and serves to construct an identity of modern femininity, particularly in Spain, which was subjected to heavy censorship during the regime of General Franco.
Another prevailing theme is communication breakdown. Pepa and Ivan barely talk face to face and yet the film is all about their relationship. The phone is frequently broken and then repaired. At the start of the film, we see Ivan recording the dubbing for a scene in a movie, but Pepa, who is doing the voice of the woman in the scene, isn’t there - it is almost like what he is saying isn’t getting through. Later on, we see Pepa recording the lines for the same scene, having her half of the conversation separately.
One thing that really makes the comedy work around the drama is the abundance of personality and quirkiness in just about every character. There is a taxi driver who drives ‘mambo taxi’, a receptionist with a loudspeaker, a Jevoha’s Witness concierge, and an elderly news reader who is actually played by the director’s mother. There is colour not only in the visuals but also in every character, and they will keep you laughing whenever the situational comedy wanes.
It is easy to see why this film was so successful and why Pedro Almodovar has become such a cult icon. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, although slightly dated, has an incredible amount of charm, a great sense of visual style and a quirky wit that makes it a very enjoyable movie. If you are new to Almodovar, then this is the best film to introduce you to him. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is undeniably a grand landmark in Spanish film. DOB
