Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown is a film directed by Pedro Almodóvar and released on1988. It received huge success as it was been chosen as the opening of the 26th New York Film Festival (Ballesteros, 2013). Almodóvar also gained reputation. I deem one of the reasons for his success is that he knows about combining and innovation. He has the eyes for finding beauty, and combines the useful elements of his life into the products. Thus, he films have a unique style and leave a deep impression on audiences. Today, this article will treat Women on the Verge as an example, fromhis early experience in the Madrid Movement, his reference to others and his cooperation with Antonio Banderas to discuss how he utilized this elements into his film.
One of the common traits of earlier Almodóvar’s stories is highlighting hedonism. They were aiming to impel the temporal practice and desires (Ballesteros, 2013). This is influenced deeply by his early experience. In1980, the Madrid Movement is occurred in Spain. It aimed to overthrow autocracy and spread democracy and freedom. What was once banned has also emerged asapproaches for public to express themselves (Zaino, 2017). Homosexuality was asignificant example. Almodóvar as a queer was active in the movement. He led it through his film. According to Zaino (2017), many of his films such as Labyrinth of Passion(1982) was presented the new hedonism. The echoes of the Madrid Movement are evident in Women on the Verge either. In terms of the stylists of characters, it has uncommon and exaggerated style that is capable to seize audiences’ attention. Actors wear high saturated and bright colors, combining with dramatic makeup.For example, ex-wife Lucia wears long and heavy eyelashes and vibrant lipstick which fitting the characteristics of her mental illness. As for the characters and plots, the characters’ personalities also accord with the hedonism of that time. They express themselves freely and sometimes have few considerations before a decision. For instance, Candela, the girlfriend of Pepa in film, who wants to suicide herself after being informed that she may be arrested because has fallen in love with a terrorist and shielded him. She even sleeps with Carlos who is engaged. Lucia goes to the airport to shoot Ivan in revenge regardless of whether she is committing a crime. The son’s fiancée has an orgasm in her dream and naturally talk about it when she wakes up. Men in the film, more intuitive, linger in love. Almodóvar gradually shifted his attention from expressing freedom to concerning about social, moral and other issues in the ages. However, his films still expresses his thoughts about breaking away from traditions and defining himself.
Reference to prominent works is another trait of Almodóvar’s films. He received inspiration when he was reading or watching.Women on the Verge in inspired by the Human Voice of Jean Cocteau. According to Willem (2018), Almodóvar said in interviews that he adapted Cocteau’s story and extended it to the length of a feature film. While the idea of a woman at the phone waiting for her lover to call remained, the whole story had changed differently. There are various of the same elements presented in both film, such as the telephone,cigarettes, sleeping pills, lover’s letters and guns. However, their meanings to the characters are different. In Women on the Verge, the ladies’ pursuit of love, even self-awareness or self-satisfies, is more bold. Therefore, although it is the source of inspiration, it can not be considered that Women on the Verge is an adaptation of the Human Voice(Willem, 2018). In addition to that, Almodóvar also learned from other successful directors,Hitchcock, as an example. Kercher (2013) has considered Hitchcock as a “primary text book and industrial model” to Almodóvar. Due to the lacking of the opportunity to learn in a film school, Almodóvar watched several works of him to receive cinematic knowledge. He highlighted a specific object in Hitchcock’s method. Almodóvar filmed a giant telephone in Women on the Verge, as an example, was referent the teacup in Notorious(1946) of Hitchcock (Kercher,2013). Moreover, Kercher (2013) pointed that the shadows of Stranger on the Train(1951),Rear Window(1954) and other Hitchcock’s films also appeared in Women on the Verge.
Collaborate with familiar faces might be more successful to achieve agoal, while two persons who agree and admire each other working together ismore possible to achieve twice with less effort. Almodóvar is the typica lexample. He prefers to collaborate with the same actors several times. Antonio Banderas is one of his satisfied partners. He is the romantic son Carlos in Women on the Verge who has a fiancée and has an affair with other woman in the meantime. However, the collaboration between him and Almodovar is more than it. Back in 1982, Labyrinth of Passion was the beginning of their partnership, which was also the beginning of Antonio’s film career. Since then, they created multiple works throughout the 1980s, such as Matador(1986), Law of Desire(1987), and includes Women on the Verge. Antonio sharpened Almodóvar’s characters with his ability, while honoring Almodóvar’s talent at the same time (Norman, 2020; Gray, 2019). They appreciated and achieved for each other. Their careers are both blossomed. It was been two decades they did not bring a product together until 2011, when the Skin I Live in released and broke through again internationally.
Almodóvar putted what he saw, heard and felt in his life into Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown.The global success of it is a tribute to his approach and style. There will bemore of his best work in the future, and I am looking forward to it.
Reference
Ballesteros, I. (2013). Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown From Madrid (1988) to New York (2010). In M. D’ Lugo & K. M. Vernon (Ed.),A companion to Pedro Almodovar(pp.368-386).
Gray,T. (2019).Antonio Banderas on Pedro Almodovar and his ‘revolution’ in Spanish cinema [Online]. Retrieved January 11, 2021, from https://variety.com/2019/film/awards/antonio-banderas-talks-about-pedro-almodovar-and-his-revolution-in-spanish-cinema-1203440297/
Kercher,D. (2013). Almodovar and Hitchcock: a sorcerer’s apprenticeship. In M. D’ Lugo& K. M. Vernon (Ed.), A companion to Pedro Almodovar.(pp. 59-87).
Norman,D. (2020).How Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas’ movies shaped the 1980s [Online]. Retrieved January 11,2021, from https://www.thefocus.news/movies/pedro-almodovar-antonio-banderas/
Willem,L. M. (1998).Almodovar on the verge of Cocteau’s “La Voix Humaine.” Literature Film Quarterly, 26(2), pp. 142-147.
Zaino,L. (2017).A Brief Introduction to La Movida Madrileña [Online]. Retrieved January 6, 2021, from: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/a-brief-introduction-to-la-movida-madrilena/