Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a chaotic screwball comedy that examines the nature of gender: its roles, implications, consequences, and cultural stereotypes. Specifically, the theme of the film seems to demonize the machismo mentality of womanizers. In contrast, it succors the women who fall prey to the pseudo-charms of womanizers.
From the very beginning, we are introduced to Ivan: a man with an attractive yet evasive personality. He is seen walking alongside a group of women, wooing them with trite compliments in what appears to be a television commercial, or pseudo-dream-world. This scene is very aware of itself: it's an expository and visual catalogue that sets up not only the quality of Ivan's non-committal character, but also establishes a tone that looks down upon the men of the world who "play" women. Ironically, the film is directed by a male: Pedro Almodóvar. I felt as though he was trying to explore the reasons behind women's emotionally nebulous states of mind; not in a way that criticized women for being so confusing to men, but rather in a way that was criticizing men for being so immoral to women. He took the male stereotype of manliness, exaggerated it within the character of Ivan, and then sought to examine the harmful consequences of what Ivan-like personalities can cause upon naïve, sensitive women. In other words, Almodóvar seems to suggest that men view women as crazy because they are unable to view themselves as behaving immorally towards them. Though the argument can hold true from the opposite perspective, I think Almodóvar was fair to place men in the negative light: it acting as a critique upon his own manliness rather than pointing the blame upon women. Since he's a man, he can't really be accused of being chauvinistic.
The women in the film are having, as the title suggests, nervous breakdowns due to immoral men two of which whose lives are negatively affected by Ivan's womanizing (Pepa and lunatic Lucia). Pepa's and Lucia's maudlin behavior consequently affects (for worst) the lives of those around them. For example, Pepa wasn't being charitable towards her suicidal friend, Candela, because she was too wrapped up in her own agitated mind concerning Ivan. These women are shown doing absurd things in order to justify their hurt feelings from poor relationships: burning beds, overdosing on sleeping pills, attempting suicide, holding each other at gun point, etc. As I questioned why they were doing all of these crazy things, my mind always came back to the same answer: all of their behavior was a reaction to a man's infidelity and non-commitment.
Granted that the women in the story had freewill and did not have to react so irrationally, it didn't help much that their emotions were being toyed with by ambivalent men. A more refined theme can now be extracted from the film: poor relationships spring from poor morality, and poor morality comes because of greed. Consider Antonio Bandera's character. He's in a relationship with a somewhat controlling woman, who, when she gets drugged up, he leaves her for Candela because she's new, fresh. This idea plays off the difficulty of transient relationships: they start of fiery and passionate, but blow out too soon because of boredom and non-commitment. When given the chance to behave immorally, Bandera's character leaps at the chance. He selfishly desires the feelings of love, but not the work it takes to establish a real loving and lasting relationship.
Almodóvar exaggerates the film aesthetic-look to help convey these themes. Pastel colored walls, flamboyant costumes/dress, extensive set-design of plants, and over-the-top acting/stunts creates an atmosphere of hyper-stress and confusion. All these elements act as outward physical manifestations of the inner-turmoil he's trying to express regarding male-female relationships. Relationships are chaotic and screwball. They often create stress and confusion. In "normal" relationships outside the movies, the tensions that Almodóvar presents in his film regarding male and females are often experienced in more subtle ways. Instead of committing suicide over troubled relationships, we might gossip with the person next to us as to why we don't like whomever (though, indeed, many suicides have resulted from poor relationships). Almodóvar merely exaggerates common problems existent in these types of relationships in order to provoke how we feel inside when being tortured by a man or woman. In context of the movie, though, I feel that women will identify this film as a work of justice; one that slams upon men who ought to know better. For men, this film is a learning tool of why not to give mixed signals, let alone behave immorallyby doing so they only confuse the female species even further. I wonder what this film would have been like if directed by a woman: I'll assume the opposite would hold true of degrading women rather than men.
From the very beginning, we are introduced to Ivan: a man with an attractive yet evasive personality. He is seen walking alongside a group of women, wooing them with trite compliments in what appears to be a television commercial, or pseudo-dream-world. This scene is very aware of itself: it's an expository and visual catalogue that sets up not only the quality of Ivan's non-committal character, but also establishes a tone that looks down upon the men of the world who "play" women. Ironically, the film is directed by a male: Pedro Almodóvar. I felt as though he was trying to explore the reasons behind women's emotionally nebulous states of mind; not in a way that criticized women for being so confusing to men, but rather in a way that was criticizing men for being so immoral to women. He took the male stereotype of manliness, exaggerated it within the character of Ivan, and then sought to examine the harmful consequences of what Ivan-like personalities can cause upon naïve, sensitive women. In other words, Almodóvar seems to suggest that men view women as crazy because they are unable to view themselves as behaving immorally towards them. Though the argument can hold true from the opposite perspective, I think Almodóvar was fair to place men in the negative light: it acting as a critique upon his own manliness rather than pointing the blame upon women. Since he's a man, he can't really be accused of being chauvinistic.
The women in the film are having, as the title suggests, nervous breakdowns due to immoral men two of which whose lives are negatively affected by Ivan's womanizing (Pepa and lunatic Lucia). Pepa's and Lucia's maudlin behavior consequently affects (for worst) the lives of those around them. For example, Pepa wasn't being charitable towards her suicidal friend, Candela, because she was too wrapped up in her own agitated mind concerning Ivan. These women are shown doing absurd things in order to justify their hurt feelings from poor relationships: burning beds, overdosing on sleeping pills, attempting suicide, holding each other at gun point, etc. As I questioned why they were doing all of these crazy things, my mind always came back to the same answer: all of their behavior was a reaction to a man's infidelity and non-commitment.
Granted that the women in the story had freewill and did not have to react so irrationally, it didn't help much that their emotions were being toyed with by ambivalent men. A more refined theme can now be extracted from the film: poor relationships spring from poor morality, and poor morality comes because of greed. Consider Antonio Bandera's character. He's in a relationship with a somewhat controlling woman, who, when she gets drugged up, he leaves her for Candela because she's new, fresh. This idea plays off the difficulty of transient relationships: they start of fiery and passionate, but blow out too soon because of boredom and non-commitment. When given the chance to behave immorally, Bandera's character leaps at the chance. He selfishly desires the feelings of love, but not the work it takes to establish a real loving and lasting relationship.
Almodóvar exaggerates the film aesthetic-look to help convey these themes. Pastel colored walls, flamboyant costumes/dress, extensive set-design of plants, and over-the-top acting/stunts creates an atmosphere of hyper-stress and confusion. All these elements act as outward physical manifestations of the inner-turmoil he's trying to express regarding male-female relationships. Relationships are chaotic and screwball. They often create stress and confusion. In "normal" relationships outside the movies, the tensions that Almodóvar presents in his film regarding male and females are often experienced in more subtle ways. Instead of committing suicide over troubled relationships, we might gossip with the person next to us as to why we don't like whomever (though, indeed, many suicides have resulted from poor relationships). Almodóvar merely exaggerates common problems existent in these types of relationships in order to provoke how we feel inside when being tortured by a man or woman. In context of the movie, though, I feel that women will identify this film as a work of justice; one that slams upon men who ought to know better. For men, this film is a learning tool of why not to give mixed signals, let alone behave immorallyby doing so they only confuse the female species even further. I wonder what this film would have been like if directed by a woman: I'll assume the opposite would hold true of degrading women rather than men.