So, normally I have some sort of anecdote of questionable quality to use in this opening section to any review, and I probably had one for this movie here, but then I started it on HBO Max and it was in Spanish. Now, I knew it was in Spanish, and even though I don’t really speak Spanish, I figured HBO Max would have it at least with English subtitles. But then the movie started, it was in Spanish, and there were no subtitles. I had to pause the movie and turn them on.
OK, that anecdote is really weak, but consider it a warning to English-speakers with HBO Max to be sure to switch the subtitles on sometimes.
Voiceover actress Pepa (Carmen Maura) is unhappy as her lover and costar Ivan (Fernando Guillen) has left her for another woman. He’s calling to say he wants to pick up a suitcase with his stuff, but Pepa wants to talk to him in person for reasons she will not elaborate on. She opts to lease her penthouse apartment out, breaks out the sleeping pills, accidentally starts a fire in her bedroom, and generally seems to be coming apart. It doesn’t help that the woman she thinks Ivan left her for, Lucia (Juliete Serrano) seems even more hostile than a woman like that should be. Things get hairier when Pepa’s friend Candela (Maria Barranco) comes by because as much as Pepa is quick to ignore Candela’s problems for her own, she really shouldn’t. Candela has her own relationship problems, except hers deal with the fact she was sleeping with an Islamic terrorist who was plotting a whole lot more with his cell before Candela finally got the heck out of there, but she is afraid her proximity to wanted criminals means she will also be wanted by the police.
She may not be wrong. And that’s all before Lucia’s son Carlos (a very young and somewhat dorky-looking Antonio Banderas) shows up with his somewhat demanding fiancee Marisa (Rossy de Palma) looking to lease the apartment. Carlos is a nice enough young man, arguably the most “normal” character in the movie, but the couple’s presence isn’t exactly helping to clear up a messy day for Pepa.
Despite the title, I don’t think there are too many women here on the verge of a nervous breakdown. One of them is well past the verge, and the others seems to get over whatever problems they have–most of them caused by poor dating choices–well before the movie is over. Pepa herself is largely in control of what she wants even if she is incredibly self-centered all things being equal. Her reason for wanting to talk to Ivan does make a lot of sense as something she would want to tell him in person, but at the same time, she seems to have a nice place to live, a good career, and no real financial concerns. Compare that to Candela, who runs to hide at Pepa’s place with only the clothes on her back and a much more frantic demeanor, and it isn’t hard to see why Pepa’s biggest issue isn’t approaching a nervous breakdown so much as it is just not seeing other people might have worse problem than she has.
However, this is a broad, dark comedy, and it is genuinely funny in places. Carlos is basically the straightman to a quartet of women who all seem to be very demanding of him in very different ways. Marisa wants out of the situation but has her own problems. Candela needs some emotional support because Pepa sure isn’t giving it. Pepa needs a man to fix some things and he happens to be there, to say nothing of Carlos’s connections to both Ivan and Lucia. I had a lot of fun with this, I will probably be wary of any offer of gazpacho, and I should probably check HBO Max for subtitles whenever i hit play on a movie in a language I don’t speak. Those are some generally good lessons from where I am sitting.
Grade: A
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