Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Pepa resolves to kill herself with a batch of sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho after her lover leaves her. Fortunately, she is interrupted by a deliciously chaotic series of events.
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Julián Núñez Sánchez
- Miguel Ángel Pérez Campos
- Marisa Ibarra
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Jean Cocteau
- Pedro Almodóvar
Rating: 7.4/10 by 887 users
Alternative Title:
Femmes au bord de la crise de nerfs - FR
신경쇠약 직전의 여자 - KR
崩溃边缘的女人 - CN
Sinir Krizinin Eşiğindeki Kadınlar - TR
Kvinnor på gränsen till nervsammanbrott - SE
Femei în pragul unei crize de nervi - RO
Женщины на грани нервного срыва - RU
Mulheres à Beira de um Ataque de Nervos - PT
Kobiety na skraju załamania nerwowego - PL
神経衰弱ぎりぎりの女たち - JP
Donne sull'orlo di una crisi di nervi - IT
Γυναίκες στα πρόθυρα νευρικής κρίσης - GR
신경 쇠약 직전의 여자 - KR
Sievietes uz nervu sabrukuma robežas - LV
Naisia hermoromahduksen partaalla - FI
Kvinner på randen av nervøst sammenbrudd - NO
Country:
Spain
Language:
Runtime: 01 hour 28 minutes
Budget: $700,000
Revenue: $7,179,298
Plot Keyword: infidelity, friendship, airport, madrid, spain, suicide attempt, pregnancy, female friendship, slapstick comedy, female protagonist, terrorism, relationship, nervous breakdown, ex-wife, mental health, sleeping pill, lies, independent film, apartment, actress, frustration
"I was a virgin this morning, but I'm not sure now...". Well after ninety minutes of these shenanigans, I'm surprised she was even certain about the morning. The story follows actress "Pepa" (Carmen Maura) who is despondent after being left by boyfriend "Iván" (Fernando Guillén). Determined to find out why, and pregnant, she contacts his former wife "Lucia" (Julieta Serrano), herself fresh from a lengthy stint in a sanatorium and living with her rather geeky looking twenty-something son "Carlos" (Antonio Banderas) but they can't really shed much light on his behaviour either. Whilst all this is going on, a group of terrorists is believed to have carried out an atrocity in Madrid and it might be that her best friend "Candela" (Marisa Barranco) could be mixed up as she had them stay in her apartment for an evening of furious jogging - so now she's in hiding. With the media and the cops on the trail of the killers, Pedro Almodóvar now crams enough slapstick comedy into this to rival anything Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau ever did. There's nothing nor anybody left out - even a bleach blond gay guy and some ridiculous high heeled antics to keep the pace rocketing along til a denouement that closes the story, but that hardly matters. This is about the characters and both Maura and and Barranco are on entertaining form delivering a pithy and humorous script as the plot lurches from the daft to the dafter. Well worth a watch this.
