Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Let's continue on with our education of my opinions on Pedro Almodovar. This was his first major critical success and is one of the most fun, confusing, and ridiculous films that has come out of this man, or out of any man for the last twenty years. Although I was not watching films--was not even born then, in fact-- when it came out, I must say that I think this is probably the reason why he is even on the map. Not a single film that I have seen before this has the style, the verbal cadence, or the fantastical sequences of events which each scene, though on their own seem pointless, combine into a wonderfully entertaining explosion of color and great performances, particularly from it's lead, Carmen Maura.

Maura plays Pepa, a woman getting over the breakup of a three year long relationship, and a woman desperately trying to sleep. She tries to get a hold of him after finding out that he is going on a trip with another woman, but through a series of very bizarre events she is prevented from seeing or even speaking to him for two days. Along the way her troubles mount when her model friend, Candela (Maria Barranco), informs her that she has accidentally gotten herself involved with Shi'ite terrorists who plan on high-jacking a plane to Stockholm.

This might be okay--at least Pepa could keep things under control--were it not for the two young people coming to look at her apartment hoping to rent it. One turns out to be the stepson Pepa never knew she had (a young Antonio Banderas), and the girl ends up drugged with spiked gazpacho. To make matters even worse Pepa's man's crazy ex, Lucia (Julieta Serrano), has been released from the asylum and is out to make sure that neither Pepa, nor her ex, make it on any plane anywhere.

Maura shines as the oldish, spunky, and emotionally unbalanced woman trying to keep everything in order. But as the unforeseen circumstances mount up, and when she can't seem to get a hold of her ex even once, the pressure brings her closer and closer to the verge of a nervous breakdown. It takes a fine actress to navigate through the insanity that Almodovar unleashes at the screen, but she is a gem in her abilities to find a character that is both equally as colorful as his script and the overall design, while at the same time remaining human.

The rest of the cast, perhaps excepting Barranco, are charming and hyperbolic men and women who adorn Pepa's life like the tacky furniture and clothes that she owns. They are there creating a dazzling, if hectic, scene through which Pepa--poor Pepa--must navigate. The result is a really lovable movie with characters you love to love, and some you love to hate. This perhaps one of Almodovar's most accessible films due mainly to its lack of violence and sex. He spends his time, rather, focusing on two absurdly wacky days in one woman's life, and in the end it is a simple joy of mine.

4/4