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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (VOSTA)
Location
Main screening room
Date
May 8th, 2022
Duration
88 min
Cycle
Pedro Almodóvar : Passengers of desire

Dedicating a retrospective to Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar means bringing light to a major cinematographic work, all together definitively cinephile, popular and exhilarating. This fierce artisan of film staging is carried by characters driven with vivid forces that often take them away from comfort and push them to discover brand new facets of themselves. They are then transformed, by means of love or disillusion. Coming back, they put conventional opinions at rest, shaping genders and social constraints. The art of filming does the rest.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Directed by
Pedro Almodóvar
Language
Spanish with English subtitles
Actors
Julieta Serrano, Carmen Maura, Rossy de Palma, Antonio Banderas
Origins
Spain
Year
1988
Duration
88 min
Genre
Comedy, drama
Format
35 mm
Synopsis

The crisis of an actress that her lover is about to leave.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Awards

Pedro Almodóvar

Born in 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar had a provincial childhood, marked by a strong women presence and a religious education. At the age of 18, he moved to Madrid and worked various jobs while immersed in the Madrid movida, a creative and fiery cultural movement that coincided with the democratic transition. He was introduced to theater, performance and writing in counterculture circles, and even wrote Patty Diphusa, a landmark novel in the emerging homosexual literature. In the 70s, he began directing short and then feature films. Initially noticed by the underground milieu, the filmmaker had a growing success in Spain. In 1986, he co-founded the production company El Deseo with his brother, and two years later, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown brought him international fame, which has never waned since.

Explore

J'ai eu envie d'une sorte d'overdose de Carmen Maura, de ne travailler qu'avec elle pour voir jusqu'où nous pouvions aller. J'ai pensé à La Voix humaine [...]. Mais le texte de Cocteau ne dure qu'environ 25 minutes, ce qui ne suffisait pas à faire le long métrage dont j'avais envie. Mon idée a été de déplacer l'action deux jours avant ce fameux coup de téléphone.
Pedro Almodóvar (2000)
À propos de Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown
Full cast
Influence de Cocteau
About Pedro Almodóvar
Filmography
Pedro Almodóvar : l’Espagne face à son histoire - 28 Minutes - ARTE
Pedro Almodovar: On Directing

Podcast : Philosopher avec Almodovar

Exubérance, passion, identités perdues, corps transformés, désir violent et humour doux-amer... Voici quatre émissions pour philosopher avec Pedro Almodovar ! Découvrez un cinéaste unique en son genre à l'univers bariolé, qui saisit ce qu'aucun autre regard n'a jamais su capter : le langage des émotions à même la peau, la caméra qui effleure les corps et sublime les ambiguïtés dans des couleurs éclatantes. Ode à la folie qui mélange les corps et les esprits pour le meilleur et pour le pire...

Pedro Almodóvar on Finding His Inspiration | Screenwriters’ Lecture Series
Pedro Almodovar en 6 minutes - Blow Up - ARTE
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