DVDs & Blu-rays
Mick LaSalle reviews “Women in the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”
This is the film that launched director Pedro Almodóvar on the international film scene in 1988. He had already made a name for himself in his native Spain, but this is the film that broke out, and 29 years later, it remains fresh, vital and modern.
Farcical and hysterical, with a touch of American screwball comedy, the film is an opulent delight, bursting with color and energy. It focuses mainly on the struggle of Pepa (Carmen Maura), whose lover has recently left her. Over the course of the film, she tries to get in touch with him (and he pretends to be trying to contact her), as her life and those of the people around her spin out of control.
In addition to Pepa, there are other women heading toward breakdowns — such as the lover of a Shiite terrorist, an insane woman newly released from an asylum. The pace is nonstop, and the comic invention varied and exuberant. It’s a fun and original experience, strangely warm in the midst of freneticism, an encounter with a rich talent and a new sensibility.
In the accompanying notes, writer Elvira Lindo puts the film and Almodóvar’s early career into the context of Spain, a nation newly liberated from fascism. There are illuminating interviews with Almodóvar, remembering the process of writing and directing the film, and with Maura, who went on to become one of Spain’s most honored actresses.
The Blu-ray transfer — crucial with a film such as this, whose appeal is so much tied to its visual presentation — is up to the Criterion Collection’s usual exalted standard. — Mick LaSalle