Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas and Julieta Serrano. The plot follows actress Pepa, who, after her lover Iván leaves without explanation, sets out to find the reason, and comes across an array of eccentric characters, including Iván's son from a previous relationship and her best friend Candela, who has been held captive by a Shiite terrorist cell.

The film brought Almodóvar to widespread international attention: it was nominated for the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won five Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Maura. It debuted at the 45th Venice International Film Festival and was released on 11 November 1988 in the United States.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown received acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and is often considered one of Almodóvar's best films. A stage musical opened on Broadway in 2010, adapted by Jeffrey Lane with songs by David Yazbek.

Title
The Spanish title refers to an ataque de nervios (attack of the nerves), inexactly translated into English as "nervous breakdown" (crisis nerviosa). Ataques de nervios are culture-bound psychological phenomena during which the individual, most often female, displays dramatic outpouring of negative emotions, bodily gestures, occasional falling to the ground, and fainting, often in response to receiving disturbing news or witnessing or participating in an upsetting event. Historically, this condition has been associated with hysteria and more recently in the scientific literature with post-traumatic stress and panic attacks.

Plot
Television actress Pepa Marcos is depressed because her boyfriend Iván has left her. They are voice actors who dub foreign films, notably Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. Iván's sweet-talking voice is the same one he uses in his work. About to leave on a trip, he has asked Pepa to pack his things in a suitcase he will pick up later.

Pepa returns home to find her answering machine filled with frantic messages from her friend, Candela; she rips out the phone and throws it out the window onto the balcony. Candela arrives; before she can explain her situation, Carlos (Iván's son with Lucía, his previous lover) arrives with his snobbish fiancée Marisa. They are apartment-hunting, and have chosen Pepa's penthouse to tour. Carlos and Pepa figure out each other's relationship to Iván; Pepa wants to know where Iván is, but Carlos does not know. Candela tries to kill herself by jumping off the balcony.

A bored Marisa decides to drink gazpacho from the refrigerator, unaware that it has been spiked with sleeping pills. Candela explains that she had an affair with an Arab man who later visited her with some friends. Unbeknownst to her, they were a Shiite terrorist cell. When the terrorists left, Candela fled to Pepa's place; she fears that the police are after her. Pepa goes to see a lawyer recommended by Carlos.

The lawyer, Paulina, behaves strangely and refuses to help Pepa; she has plane tickets to Stockholm. Candela tells Carlos that the Shiites plan to hijack a flight to Stockholm that evening and divert it to Beirut, where they have a friend who was arrested. Carlos fixes the phone, calls the police, hangs up before (he believes) they can trace the call, and kisses Candela. Pepa returns; Lucía calls and says that she is coming over to confront her about Iván. Carlos says that Lucía has recently been released from a mental hospital. Pepa, tired of Iván, throws his suitcase out (barely missing him); he leaves Pepa a message.

Pepa returns to her apartment and hears Carlos playing Lola Beltrán's "Soy infeliz". She throws the record out the window, and it hits Paulina. Pepa hears Iván's message, rips out the phone and throws the answering machine out of the window. Lucía arrives with the telephone repairman and the police, who traced Carlos' call. Candela panics, but Carlos serves the spiked gazpacho. The policemen and repairman are knocked out, and Carlos and Candela fall asleep on the sofa; Lucía aims a policeman's gun at Pepa, who figures out that Iván is going to Stockholm with Paulina and their flight is the one the terrorists are planning to hijack. Lucía says that she faked being sane when she heard Iván's voice dubbed on a foreign film. She throws the gazpacho in Pepa's face, and rushes to the airport to kill Iván.

Pepa chases her in a cab with her neighbour, Ana. At the airport, Lucía sees Iván and Paulina at security and aims her gun at them. Pepa thwarts the murder attempt by rolling a luggage cart at Lucía, before fainting. As the police arrest Lucía, Iván rushes to Pepa's aid and apologises for the way he has been treating her, offering to talk things out with her. Pepa, however, declares it is now too late and leaves. She returns to her home, which is a mess. Pepa sits on her balcony, where Marisa has just awakened. The women chat, sharing a moment of tranquility, and Pepa finally reveals what she wanted to tell Iván: she is pregnant.

Box office
The film was the highest-grossing Spanish film of all-time in Spain with a gross of 1.1 billion pesetas, surpassing La vaquilla (1985), equivalent to US$8 million. It was also the most successful Spanish film in the United States at the time, with a gross of $7.2 million.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown finds writer-director Pedro Almodóvar working in a distinctly feminist vein, with richly rewarding results." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

The film was ranked number 78 on Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" list in 2010.

Nils Gollersrud comments that "Almodóvar's signature formula of gaudy, ironic, genre-bending storytelling had achieved a symbiosis of sorts, presenting a more confident and satisfying version of his unique cinematic vision that his earlier, rougher films had not yet achieved".

United States

 * Academy Awards
 * Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
 * Golden Globe Awards
 * Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
 * National Board of Review
 * Won: Best Foreign Language Film
 * New York Film Critics
 * Won: Best Foreign Language Film
 * Runner-up: Best Actress (Carmen Maura)

United Kingdom

 * BAFTA Awards (UK)
 * Nominated: Best Film not in the English Language

Europe

 * David di Donatello Awards (Italy)
 * Won: Best Foreign Direction (Pedro Almodóvar)
 * European Film Awards
 * Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Carmen Maura)
 * Won: Best Young Film (Pedro Almodóvar)
 * Nominated: Best Art Direction (Félix Murcia)
 * Goya Awards (Spain)
 * Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Carmen Maura)
 * Won: Best Actress – Supporting Role (María Barranco)
 * Won: Best Editing (José Salcedo)
 * Won: Best Film
 * Won: Best Screenplay – Original (Pedro Almodóvar)
 * Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Guillermo Montesinos)
 * Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Julieta Serrano)
 * Nominated: Best Cinematography (José Luis Alcaine)
 * Nominated: Best Costume Design (José María Cossío)
 * Nominated: Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar)
 * Nominated: Best Makeup and Hairstyles (Jesús Moncusi and Gregorio Ros)
 * Nominated: Best Original Score (Bernardo Bonezzi)
 * Nominated: Best Production Design (Félix Murcia)
 * Nominated: Best Production Supervision (Esther García)
 * Nominated: Best Sound (Gilles Ortion)
 * Nominated: Best Special Effects (Reyes Abades)
 * Venice Film Festival (Italy)
 * Won: Golden Osella – Best Screenplay (Pedro Almodóvar)

Stage adaptation
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has been adapted into a musical by Jeffrey Lane (book) and David Yazbek (music and lyrics). The production opened on Broadway in previews on 5 October 2010, and officially on 4 November 2010, at the Belasco Theatre. The cast included Patti LuPone, Sherie Rene Scott, Laura Benanti, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Danny Burstein, Mary Beth Peil, Justin Guarini, de'Adre Aziza, and Nikka Graff Lanzarone, with direction by Bartlett Sher.

The production was a limited engagement that was scheduled to end 23 January 2011, but due to low grosses and ticket sales, closed early on 2 January 2011. At the time of closing, the show had played 30 previews and 69 regular performances.

A West End production of the show opened at London's Playhouse Theatre on 12 January 2015 for a 20-week run, starring Tamsin Greig, Jérôme Pradon, Haydn Gwynne and Anna Skellern.

Television adaptation
In January 2022, it was reported that Apple TV+ will be adapting the film into a television series with Gina Rodriguez set to star and executive produce.