Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Longtime Almodóvar icon Carmen Maura is but one of many women on the verge in Almodóvar’s international breakthrough, a riotous blend of screwball comedy, fifties melodramas, Spanish soap operas, and high-eighties fashion that’s “as crowd-pleasing as it is color-coordinated” (J. Hoberman). Brokenhearted and breaking down, Pepa (Maura) must deal with a parade of similarly unhinged characters who assemble in her pastel-walled, brightly decorated Madrid flat (shot like something from a Rock Hudson/Doris Day film). Feminist lawyers, terrorists, clueless cops, and a young Antonio Banderas amplify the madness in this “brilliantly funny, sensual, and glittering celebration of women” (David Denby).