Customer Reviews

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown [VHS]

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pepa is having a crisis. Her lover is leaving her and now her doctor tells her she is pregnant. Her best friend may be wanted by the police for her association with a Shiite terrorist. And now her lover's psychotic wife is knocking at the door. Can she catch up with her lover, protect her friend, arrange a new romance for her lover's son, dodge the police, and disarm her lover's wife in time to foil an international terrorist plot? Well... maybe after she serves her guests some gazpacho.

In any other hands WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN would collapse into mere frantic farce, but Almodovar directs Carmen Marua and an ensemble cast to a brilliant series of plausible performances that allows the viewer to buy into the story, improbabilities and all--and the result is a hilarious, touching, and fascinating film that is considerably more than the sum of its parts. This is certainly comedy at its most sophistocated, splashed with social satire and spangled with a touch of symbolism for those inclined to seek it.

A number of motifs run through the film--recorded voices, telephones, and the color red are but a few examples--but Almodovar doesn't force his audience to deconstruct his film in order to enjoy it, and WOMEN ON THE VERGE is easily one of the funniest European films of the past fifty years. Those who expect farce plain and simple or who like their movies to tie up into a neat package by the time the credits roll may be disappointed--but if you can make a leap of faith and meet the film on its own terms you'll find it sly, witty, often laugh-out-loud funny... and it will leave you with a feel-good afterglow too. Strongly, strongly recommended.

Watching this movie will make any woman feel quite sane. You just cannot imagine your life could get this out of control.

The opening scenes are dreamlike, colorful and only when you watch this for the second time do you fully understand the implications of all the movie making episodes and why Ivan is walking by woman after woman saying exactly what they want to hear.

In this movie, there are a number of women who are involved with a number of men they should be running from instead of pursuing them endlessly in the hopes of returned affection.

While I started watching this in English, you might also tend to agree it is best watched with the Castilian audio track and the subtitles of your choice.

This story really begins with Pepa (Carmen Maura) oversleeping and hearing the love of her life leave a message on her answering machine asking her to pack all his things in a suitcase because he is leaving on a trip. Pepa does what any sane woman would do and tosses out everything that reminds her of Ivan. Except it takes almost the entire movie for this to happen. We wonder how she would have reacted if she had not wanted to tell Ivan she was pregnant.

Candela (Maria Barranco) is one of her best friends she is trying to avoid so she can deal with her own heartbreak. Candela is running from the law and needs a safe place to escape to until she can figure out how to warn the world about a Shiite terrorist attack she found out about from her ex. Eventually Candela makes her way to Pepa's penthouse just as Pepa is flying out the door.

Each woman is vulnerable in various ways. Lucia deals with her rejection in violent ways, Pepa by looking for her boyfriend endlessly and Candela by trying to jump from the balcony of Pepa's penthouse.

This movie is so beautifully woven together with all sort of delicious connections including the gazpacho episodes and the taxi driver. Nothing in this movie is expected. You also see each character giving her view of the entire situation. Antonio Banderas appears as Ivan's son Carlos and is hardly recognizable at first. Must have been that he is so young and is wearing glasses.

At times just the way the scenes are filmed gives it such visual appeal. It is a comedy, a mystery, a thriller depending on the music which is only used to maximum effect where needed. There is some brilliant symbolism like the bed going up in flames perhaps representing a relationship destroyed in a moment of misunderstanding or passion.

With that said, this has to be the most hysterical film I have seen "since" I watched a movie when I was seven called "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)." This movie is also one you will not soon forget. If it wasn't for the study of sexual customs, this would be an innocent romp at best.

Vibrant, artistic and unrestricted in its originality and hilarity.

~The Rebecca Review

This is a day in the life of Pepa, voice-over artist. She dubs foreign films into her native Spanish, and sometimes provides the voice for actresses in Spanish films who for whatever reason don't speak their own lines (this is common practice in many European film industries).

As though Pepa's day weren't bad enough, because her lover Ivan has just broken up with her, and she's found out she's pregnant by him, people keep entering her life with strange demands on this day.

First is her friend Candela, who is running from her Arab muslim boyfriend; he has turned out to be a shiite terrorist. After that, many new people pop up when least expected, each a little closer to a nervous breakdown than the last. And each, it would seen, more determined to push Pepa over the edge, but she somehow keeps her cool, and makes it through the day.

Pepa is the one person in this film who seems to have the "right" to completely breakdown, and yet she is the sanest
one here.

This is screwball comedy (plus sex) just like Leo McCarey and Ernst Lubitsch used to make. I congratulate Almadovar on capturing this tenor. Recent American attempts to revive this style have usually digressed into tar pits of lame yet gross sex jokes, or played like two hour sit-coms. This film is quick and light, and none of the actors ever step outside their characters to say to the audience "Look at me! I'm being funny!" which is the scourge of this type of film.

I laugh myself to tears watching this film; I quite literally fell out of my seat once. And this is with repeated viewings.

I love this film.

WATCH THIS FILM AND LEARN TO APPRECIATE THIS KIND OF HUMOR, WHILE YOU STILL CAN... This film is one of the most funniest films, I have ever seen. Even if you watch it dozen of times, it is still funny, because [while dialogue itself is hilarious] the most fun comes from the faces and body language of the actors/characters. Statistically, this film is the most popular Spanish film in North America, so far. It is definitely the most popular and well-known of Almodovar's films.

I don't want to give away the plot. Besides, the plot is too crazy to explain... You just have to see it. I'll just say that you will see:

Banderas as a stuttering, young man in glasses [beautiful, just as well...], who is totally under control of his impossibly ugly fiancee [very gifted comedian actress, but the way].

Young girl, trying to commit suicide, by sliding off the penthouse balcony.

Young virgin, having an erotic dream and, subsequently, "losing her virginity" in a dream, after being heavily drugged.

Also, coming to the screen near you: crazy mother, strange taxi-driver, unlucky terrorists, wacky neighbors, sloppy policemen, and one over-sexed womanizer, who gets what he deserves, but not quite....

All in all, it is a total mad-house, created in a very beautiful Spanish penthouse, by a series of unfortunate circumstances.

After watching this film, I thought to myself, that Shakespearean comedies have finally found their independent counter-part in the 20th cenruty's cinema.

This is probably my favourite movie ever: the acting is superb, the direction, cinematography and editing are flawless, the plot is deliciously bizarre. The best thing about the film is the colours though - it's an absolute joy to watch, I've never seen a redder red. What more can I say?

In 'Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown', Pedro Almodovar subtley overturns traditional gender stereotypes. Outside of the shennanigans she encounters from place to place, Pepa takes stock of her situation in the taxi that carries her between buildings. Its here she recognizes that the mechanics of motorcycles are much easier to fathom than those of male psychology. Ivan's first wife Lucia, remains in the 60's fashion she was wearing when he left her. It's almost as if time stopped for her the moment he left. The array of colours seem to be used as a metaphor for the full and intense emotions of the women involved, compared to the grey and black of Carlos and Ivan.

Apparently Almodovar had to film the balcony scenes in a studio because the downtown skyline of Madrid is now just a sea of office and apartment buildings. Almodovar has never made any secret of the fact that a director should "never borrow, but steal if it is justified" from another director. Witness his homage to Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' when Pepa looks across the street into Lucia's apartment building.

It's ironic that in his native Spain, Pedro Almodovar finally broke free from being described as a 'cult' director to being appreciated by a wider audience with the massive success of this film. Meanwhile in the U.S., the film was specifically marketed by Orion as a 'minority' picture aimed at an Hispanic and female audience. They must have been pleasantly surprised when the audiences for this film crossed racial and gender barriers.

Long ago I saw this movie many times on the big screen. Now that I finally have the video, I am a very happy camper. It's my favorite ever! And now that Antonio is a big star, it's fun to watch what he does as a stuttering youngster. Maura and the rest of the cast are super. I still laugh every time I see it, and I also really enjoy the music!

This movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is funny and scatter-brained, but the director keeps it together without missing a beat. The characters are memorable and this is a movie you won't soon forget, if ever. Also, for those who love Antonio Banderas, this movie is a wonderful chance to see his early work and what he can do with a part that could have been overlooked. Instead, he turned it into one of the best supporting roles I can remember! This movie is great fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

casually, while shopping, i found this DVD in a store... i remember i saw this movie once, a long time ago...the price was fine, a whole new movie for my eyes, i took it home... what happened next, i can't explain by words: just put the disc on the player, turn on the tv and begin laughing, just from the overture to the end!!! The music is excellent, the ideal song for every moment on the movie... the caracters, from the main to the most secondary, has its whole story inside the movie... the camera shows everything important, even smallest details... and the story, classic from Almodovar: a lot of people, that appears to be distant and different from each other, join at the end, to make one of the funniest movies ever!! Only from Almodovar's mind can come a story so complicated to explain by words, so insane and desperating, but that makes you get into it, understand it, and love it. Well, that's my appreciation from "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios", in its original language, so i hope the translated version makes you feel the same

......is this the only word I can think of to describe this film about women and how they get entanlged in all sorts as a result of their romantic pursuits. Actually, that's a lie. I can think of several more words such as witty, eccentric, fun, truthful and a very well done film indeed.

Pepa is pregnant by her dashing, unreliable, older lover, Ivan. A rat-bag he is indeed but very charming with it. She is trying to tell him but can't contact him because he is having an affair with her "feminist" lawyer acquaintance. Meanwhile she has the added problem of sheltering her young fugitive friend who got involved with terrorists and is now running from the law. But that's not all; she has Ivan's psychotic ex-wife baying for her blood, a couple viewing her flat and not only is one of them the son of her lover but the woman in the couple drinks the drugged gazpacho soup in the fridge intended for Ivan....

And just to make things even more complicated Pepa keeps running into a colourful taxi driver who likes to add a bit of modern enterprise to his business.

You'll either be charmed or put off by the quirkiness of this film but if you are the latter then stick with it; it really is very funny and entertaining stuff.

Very Almodovar; he really is a talented director and the actors aren't too bad either. Watch closely for Antonio Banderas in a pre-Hollywood. He looks really different.