An Interesting Shot from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

I will choose a shot from Almodóvar’s film, called Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and give a detailed analysis about it. The shot I chose is last for 7 seconds, from 62:11 to 62:18, showing that Pepa goes back to her apartment after throwing the suitcase of Ivan, her ex-boyfriend. This narrative belongs to the segment that Pepa decides to throw Ivan’s suitcase away, at the same time, Ivan plans go on a vacation with his current girlfriend, Paulina, so he comes to Pepa’s apartment, trying to get his suitcase back without meeting Pepa. Meanwhile, Lucia, Ivan’s wife, is also going to appear at Pepa’s house, after announcing Papa by telephone a moment ago, in order to find Ivan out before he leaves. Therefore, this shot is important to be inserted here to make the story clear under this complex relationship.


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To begin with, I will discuss about the visual composition. The information contained in the visual aspect during this short time are abundant. In this shot, the camera sets its parameter with a shallow depth of field and it continuously follows with Pepa from her left side, who is the only person in this frame currently. She also stays close to the camera, so we can see that her figure is clear and big. We can know that she is the protagonist who is strong. When Pepa walks up a stair, Ivan’s blurry figure appears in the background. Then Pepa walks into a shadow, so her face becomes darker than Ivan’s figure. In the meantime, the camera changes its focus to the deeper field, which makes Pepa also becomes blurry. These two elements help audiences to notice Ivan and to know that these two characters totally miss each other. At the last few seconds, the movement of the camera gradually slows down and Pepa walks out of the frame. Then the camera turns to stable and focuses on the woman far away, watching her moving forward (we will know that the woman is Lucia later). The focus of the camera skips Ivan but stays on Pepa and Lucia, which implies that the next plot will mainly happen between Pepa and Lucia, without Ivan.

In addition, I would like to mention about the sound elements in this shot. First of all, there is a voice of Ivan. Ivan is making a phone-record for Pepa, calling her “sweetheart” and saying that “I wish you the best with all my heart.”. This creates a really funny atmosphere, because everyone knows that this is a lie, but he keeps saying these fake words. The sentences and the reality consist a comparison, providing a sense of humor. It also helps to emphasize Ivan’s rhetoric and hypocritical personality. Secondly, there is a background music playing at the same time, with a sad and bitter melody, which narrates a poor woman who is cheated and abandoned by her lover but still wants to forgive him and wishes him happy. During this shot, the background music is just the prelude of this whole piece of music. It makes the transition from this shot to next shot more coherent. Besides, the words written in the song is just like what Pepa felt in the past, but she will never feel like that again, because she calms down and she will not act like a fool as what is sung in the song. Therefore, the prelude here leads the interesting feeling in the next scene.

Furthermore, the performance of the actors is also worthful to consider about, although there is no dialogue and actors’ motions are also simple. The two women on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of Ivan are walking in an aggressive and powerful way. They walk in a fast speed, which can exhibit their anger and courage. Besides, audiences can see both of these two women’s eyes, which are not dodging, but looking forward. It can present their determined mind and also can explain why they do not see Ivan. On the contrary, Ivan just stands there, with his back to the camera. It creates a feeling that Ivan is fragile and he is hiding.

Finally, I want to offer an interpretation of this shot’s meaning. The first meaning of this shot is about the structure of this story. This shot is in the latter part of its sequence. The next sequence happens in Pepa’s house, showing the tense between Pepa, Lucia, Paulina, who are in trouble, and the polices. Therefore, this shot should connect these two sequences, showing the appearance and participance of Lucia, meanwhile, letting Ivan leave the main storyline. Then the story can move on to the next sequence smoothly. Moving on to the content part, I think this shot exhibits the genre tendency of the whole film. This film combines both melodrama and thriller genre. According to Acevedo-Muñoz (2006), this film shows “signs of a generically hybrid quality”. Pepa, Lucia and Ivan, these three characters, with three different positions, appear at the same place at the same time. This is a dramatic coincidence, which always happens in melodrama. While, when Pepa leaves the shot, the image focuses on Lucia, watching her walking forward, with a safeguard looks at her at the left side. It presents like a thriller genre. Allinson (2001) points out that Almodóvar’s films do not have a particular genre, “Almodóvar” nearly becomes a genre itself. Therefore, when we notice the complexity of genre in his film, we can get a better understanding of his auteurism and his work.


Reference List:

Acevedo-Muñoz, E. R. (2006). Melo-Thriller: Hitchcock, Genre, and Nationalism in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. In D. Boyd and R.Barton Palmer (Eds.). After Hitchcock: Influence, Imitation, and Intertextuality (pp.173-194). Austin: University of Texas Press.


Allinson, M. (2001). A Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almodóvar. London, New York: I.B. Tauris.

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