Product Details

• Actors: Carmen Maura, Antonio Resines, Carmen Conesa, Juanjo Puigcorbé, Miguel Rellán
• Directors: Ana Belén
• Writers: Carmen Rico-Godoy
• Producers: Andrés Vicente Gómez
• Format: Color, Special Edition, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Millennium Media Ser
• VHS Release Date: July 30, 2002
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 094198110X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #402,866 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to be a woman without penis envy, December 19, 2000

By 

Merita Cruz (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Be a Woman and Not Die in the Attempt (DVD)

This movie, that is actually based on a novel by Carmen Rico Godoy, is the personal view of the life of an independent woman that has to face the fact that in the 90s the world is still ruled by men, just because their men. Keep in mind that this movie and the novel are set in Spain, a very traditional an chauvinist society. She is an accomplished woman, as one she is not only a professional journalist, but she is also a housewife and a mother. Her crisis arises when she realizes that she is a mother figure to her husband, that the gynecologist sees her as a woman and not a patient, and that a promotion at work will go to the best man and not the best person. When the mistakes of others slip by seamlessly, hers do not--society punishes for being a "Superwoman"--something that she brought onto herself. Carmen Maura is excellent. She sets the tone of the movie--in the novel the character appears to be a neurotic woman, yet Maura manages to give us a woman with a purpose, and why not,with a vengance.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to be a man and enjoy this movie, June 15, 2000

By 

Alejandro Aguilera (San Juan, Puerto Rico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Be a Woman and Not Die in the Attempt (DVD)

This movie, based on an Almudena Grandes novel, is a tribute to women all around. Carmen Maura is the wife of a man that cheat on her and a son in the process to grow... a tragedy changed her forever. This comedy has great moments of laugh, but the book is much better. I think in some levels the director misunderstood the novel, Almudena Grandes is a feminist who believe that women are not better than men, they're even and in this movie goes in the inverse. Other movies based on an Almudena novel are "Cuernos de mujer" y "How to be unhappy and enjoy it".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Femisogyny strikes again, January 6, 2004

By 

Dorion Sagan (East Coast, USA and Toronto) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Be a Woman and Not Die in the Attempt [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a great little Spanish movie about family, gender, and sexual tension ("Sex relieves tension. Love produces it") in modern Spain. Carmen Maura plays a nuanced role as a devoted housewife and reporter in love with her sweet and apparently honest but incorrigibly sexist husband. Great bits include mother-daughter talks, stoned son, Maura and her friends feminist walk out during a dinner scene and the envy of Carmens character (called Carmen, I believe!) envy of the "elegant men" that nonetheless drive her crazy. The voice over was put to such good use that I found myself identifying as much with her as her husband Antonio (played by Antonio Resines).