Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

This Spanish comedy follows actress Pepa whose boyfriend, Iván, has just left her. What follows is a comedy of coincidences and mishaps. Pepa accidentally sets fire to her bed shortly before her friend Candela calls, she is worried because she has just learnt that her boyfriend is a terrorist and fears she will be arrested for harbouring him. Then Carlos, Iván's son, and his fiancée turn up to look at the flat, which Pepa is planning to rent out; Carlos had no idea of Pepa's connection to his father till he sees a picture in the flat. Things only escalate as Carlos tries to help Candela with her problem in a way that only serves to get the police to the flat; but not before Carlos's mother, who was recently released from a psychiatric hospital turns up.

If you want a realistic story this won't be for you; just about everything that happens relies on unlikely coincidences. For me this unlikeliness only served to make it funnier. The characters themselves are only slightly exaggerated; one feels that in more normal situations they would be ordinary people. There are plenty of laughs from start to finish; highlights include gazpacho soup that has been laced with sleeping pills, a visit to a lawyer who may be able to help Candela, and a rather different taxi driver. Writer/director Pedro Almodóvar does a fine job successfully takes the comedy to a high level without tipping into silliness. He is aided by a fine cast that includes Carmen Maura, as Pepa; María Barranco as Candela and a young, pre-Hollywood, Antonio Banderas as Carlos. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of farcical comedy; it is very funny.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.