Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown / Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988 Almodovar), film (es) ESP

The plot follows actress Pepa, who, after her lover Iván leaves without explanation, sets out to find the reason, and comes across an array of eccentric characters, including Iván's son from a previous relationship and her best friend Candela, who has been held captive by a Shiite terrorist cell.

Pedro Almodóvar’s eighth feature in just nine years was his international breakthrough. Key elements of his previous work were still present: the wildly colourful palette, foregrounding female characters, playing with the conventions of the melodrama, wild plotting and outrageously outsized performances. Gone were the more outré elements of his earlier style; instead, there’s a sophistication that would develop over the course of his 1990s work, culminating in his masterpiece, All About My Mother (1999).

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