Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
After being dumped by her lover, Pepa finds her life and the lives of those around her spiraling out of control in a deliciously chaotic series of events.
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What critics compared Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown to
(Azucena, the mad gypsy woman with her tortured ideas of motherhood, has been a continual Almodóvarian inspiration; even that gabby cabdriver in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown bore her name.)
All are touched on and one gets quite the going over in “The Skin I Live In,” a rare unpleasant evening at the movies from the director of “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” and “Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.”
In “Skin,” Almodóvar is reunited with Antonio Banderas, whom he discovered in 1982’s “Labyrinth of Passion” and helmed to stardom in such films as “Law of Desire” (1987) “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988), and “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” (1990), their last collaboration to now.
Director Pedro Almodóvar (“Volver,” “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”) cast Antonio Banderas as a gifted plastic surgeon who introduces a “super skin” that he tells the scientific community he’s successfully used on animals.
Director of the dizzying, magnificent pop confections Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and All About My Mother, Almodovar is devoted to garish excess – ransacking popular culture to tell spinning-carousel stories of hope, anxiety and betrayal.
But what sets "Pain and Glory" apart from much of the "Talk to Her" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" director's previous efforts, especially those made in the past 20 years, is a pervasive reining in of those impulses.
As good as-if not better than-his most popular film, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," "All About My Mother" revisits some of the same themes of female vulnerability and solidarity, but in a new and profoundly mature way.
That said, those unfamiliar with Almodovar's previous films (such as "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown") may be taken aback by the strong sexual undercurrents and off-kilter sensibilities.
22, 1999) -- In Pedro Almodovar's brilliant All About My Mother, the creator of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has a new theory: If it wasn't for women, we'd all be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"All About My Mother," the Spanish director's latest, is unapologetically passionate in the manner of his early movies like "Matador" and "Law of Desire," and willfully unhinged like "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."
It's not surprising Almodovar's heroines are often actresses, such as the TV personality Carmen Maura played in "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" or the jaded second-string star (Victoria Abril) awakened to the possibilities of romance in "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!".
While my favorite, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at least has farce to fall back on, both this and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (though, esp.
After telling stories of men in his last few films ("Bad Education," "Talk to Her"), Almodóvar here revels in the world of women, returning to the territory of "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "All About My Mother."
But before she can enjoy the fruits of the future, she must make peace with the past, which means finally learning the truth about her own mysterious mother, Irene, beautifully played by Carmen Maura, the memorably manic heroine of Almodovar's "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."
With a string of masterworks stretching from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown to All About My Mother and Talk to Her, Almodovar is a filmmaker worth following anywhere.
The Spanish writer/director has focused on women or transsexual men in most of his best films, from "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" to "Talk to Her."
Maura appeared in numerous early Almodóvar movies -- including "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" "Matador," "Law of Desire" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" -- but the two haven't worked together for 18 years.
Carmen Maura, as the mother, reunites with Almodovar for the first time since "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" seventeen years ago, and we're as glad to see her as ghost-welcoming daughter.