MOVIE · 1988

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

ComedyDrama88 min

Carmen Maura is Pepa, a Madrid actress whose life starts coming apart after her lover vanishes without explanation. What begins as a frantic attempt to reach him turns into a day of crossed messages, laced gazpacho, and escalating apartment chaos as more people sweep into her orbit, including Pepa’s panicked friend Candela (Maria Barranco) and the lover’s son, brought to the scene by Antonio Banderas. Pedro Almodóvar folds melodrama, farce, and urban panic into a tightly wound story where telephones ring nonstop, tempers flare, and nearly everyone seems to be on the verge of collapse.