This is one of the worst Almodóvars that I've seen. Okay, it's 20 years old by now so it really seems somewhat weird. But this farce is not entertaining or funny and the plot is revealed on the back cover already. I do not recommend this to anyone who appreciates quality humour.
Fun times.Otherwise,be serious!Women rule and that film is a grasping experience of gigantic proportions.Maura is unstoppable and the more the scenario moves on,the better the delirious situations become.
The colors in this film are just so vivid. The filming makes everything feel surreal. Certain things that happen to the characters in the film are quite traumatic and I didn't feel an emotional connection to the events that I was watching. I had fun watching the film and I would recommend it for the stylization alone.
The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy. The perfect comedy.
(What? All my intros don't have to be super clever!) If I was to compare this to one movie, I'd have to say it was like Noises Off. It's one of those larger than life movies that everyone's got a backstory and, by golly, all those backstories connect in wacky way. To quote Mike Nelson, "We're on a collision course for wackiness!" There is no way for this movie to be taken seriously and it doesn't ask you to. At its heart, it is about love and strong women and the deceitfulness of men. But if you take this movie as the example of what a movement is all about you'll probably come up short.
The connecting theme that Almodovar uses in this one is Antonio Banderas force kissing people. We've seen it now in Law of Desire, Matador, and now Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Maybe Pedro Almodovar just thought that he played sexually pathetic very well, but it appears in this movie along with the others. I'm sure that he was surprised that once his American career really took off, he was placed in the role of sex symbol. After this Spanish career, I can imagine why he'd be boggled.
For once, Almodovar really uses the device of coincidence and happenstance to his advantage. While in the other stories, you may groan and say "yeah right," the coincidence and chance encouters really just add a chuckle to the overly funny siuation comedy unfolding. There's three used women who all have situaitons more bizarre than the other. The main character has a man who has been married for decades and has a son and has run off with a new woman. The second woman was dating a terrorist that she "failed" to report. The third woman is mentally insane. Add the fact that the main girl runs into her man's son who happens to be buying the house that he is selling...five minutes after she sets fire to the bed!
I know.
There are some serious moments in this story. I want to compare it to The Royal Tenenbaums suicide sequence, but Tenenbaums really takes those moments seriously. The serious moments in Women really are more along the lines of a hiccup to the regular zaniness. You would almost expect some wacky foley to back up some of those moments. I wonder why Almodovar decided to add moments of suicide, murder, and obsession within this story if he wasn't planning on using them for emotional support? I have to admit, the film is really tight and moves at a phenomenal rate. Perhaps indulging these serious moments would have compromised the film as a whole? Maybe the overall tone he was trying to establish would have been lost? Regardless, it is a very odd choice and I can't say this movie is perfect for that reason alone.
Everything in the movie wraps itself up very neatly. In fact, the movie wraps itself up far too neatly, having characters pull one-eighties. For example, horse-faced woman (I think you'll know who I'm talking about if you see the movie) goes from being a complete b*tch, to being knocked out, to being a completely sympathetic character when the main character needs a shoulder to cry on. I don't really believe that, but there's not much in this movie that is really meant to be believed.
It's a fun, zany time. I will say that this is Almodovar's most accessible movie.
Unbelievable anf fun situations throughout with a very nice cast and desperately hilarious performances. One of the best films to start with Almodovar :)
Colorful and dark at the same time, MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS is a fantastic comedy, with exceptional writing and directing from the genius PEDRO ALMODOVAR. It's pretty funny, with excellent cinematography and a good soundtrack. Carmen Maura is amazing as Pepa; Antonio Banderas made me stop hating him while María Barranco and Julieta Serrano also gave good performances. Loles León and Chus Lampreave: HILARIOUS.
It's incredible how well a man can write so many great parts for women. Almodóvar's female chracters in this movie are like the ones in all his films: realistic and profound.
Amazingly fun and creative film, more in like a soap-opera aesthetic, but with artificial settings and colorful characters, signature of Almodovar films.
While I tend to enjoy Almodovar's more polished, modern films, you can't deny the unbridled energy and raw enthusiasm he has for his material. Plays just like any good screwball should, manic and fun.
I watched this for the second time last night, and a lot of the things which stayed with me the first time I watched it are still delightful - Almodovar's candy-coloured sets, his loving tribute to women, the madcap humour slapped on thick. I even discovered a few new things, such as Almodovar's love of old Hollywood and his little touches in homage to Hitchcock, Cukor, The Wizard of Ozand the original bad girl Joan Crawford. Indeed, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown contains a lot of the hallmark Almodovar touches, and the movie is a lot of fun, if nothing else. It's a melodrama, it's a comedy, it's a lot of things.
But it's still curiously unsatisfying, and it certainly lacks the sensitivity and realism he places in his later movies, and it's not quite polished, despite showing some early promise. I can't pinpoint it to a specific scene, but the movie definitely is the work of a filmmaker who's growing and developing in his ways.
Here we see a wonderfully rich colour palette - oh the reds, pinks, electric blues! - and Carmen Maura is gorgeous as the barely-in-control Pepa, who rages around making sedative gazpacho (in a gloriously coloured scene), slapping people and then quickly reining it in to lavish some love on the gawky son (a totally geeky Antonio Banderas!) of her ex-lover, the suave and absent Ivan. Perhaps that's the problem: Pepa's wildly varied emotions could work for a woman who's dealing with heartbreak but somehow are just that little bit over the top so it becomes slapstick. Almodovar does mood swings so well in Volver and All About My Mother, but here it needs to be reined in just a tad.
Nonetheless, it's a good movie, and we see Almodovar shine in the care that he puts into the supporting characters; each one is crafted so that they stand out even in their limited appearances, and not one seems two-dimensional, not even the elusive Ivan who is at once pathetic, charming and weak despite only appearing on-screen three times. Pepa's closing scene with Ivan is also stunning, as we see a woman tired of chasing after her lost love, who is still standing tall and still capable of experiencing laughter after heartbreak.
I vacillated between keeping this one at 3.5 and upping it to 4 stars, but I think it deserves the extra half-star as I think about it. Quirky and cute.
this movie is super funny. directed by pedro almodovar it is the story of several women who are all connected some how. this is super funny but does not have substitles in english.
I watched transfixed as one outrageously implausible event followed another, the frantic action bathed in those primary colors that are a trademark of Almodovar's visual style. In short: Absurdism brought beautifully to the screen
Con esta pelicula me quedo claro que Pedro Entiende la mistica y mentalidad femenina de una manera tan Brillante que, la verdad como mujer, impresiona. Ademas la Pelicula es Divertidisima!!!
What? This was not funny or entertaining and pretty much fails. But for some reason, I can see others liking it, but this was just not for me. Theme wise, I can respect its existence. How often to do you get a (what ofthers would call) a quality, female-POV comedy? But honestly, I think I half heartedly chuckled three times in an hour and a half. NOT a good ratio.
Yet another female-focused story by the divine Almodóvar. Carmen Maura shines all the way through, but I still think the best performance in it was provided by Antonio Banderas's adorable supporting performance. A joy of a movie, though not Pedro's best.
MCT:September 12, 2008
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MCT:August 15, 2008
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MCT:April 12, 2008
MCT:July 15, 2007
