Closet Picks
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Pedro Almodóvar, 1988

Spine #855

Picked by 7 guests

Comedy / Drama

Criterion Letterboxd TMDB

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Written by Pedro Almodóvar

Cinematography José Luis Alcaine

Edited by José Salcedo

Cast Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Rossy de Palma, Kiti Mánver, Guillermo Montesinos, Chus Lampreave

Picked by

Rachel Sennott

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. There’s, like, surrealist elements to it, but at the same time, I just related to the Crash out, of feeling so insane. And I love when she lights her bed on fire. Just something I’ve wanted to do in my life.”

Paul B. Preciado

“One that is here that is obvious, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Almodóvar of course. This is like an all-time classic, this is super important and influential to me.”

St. Vincent
St. Vincent musician

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Pedro, I love you, I love you, I love you so much. You know, when you see movies by people who like, I don't know, like love women, like love their mothers, you know, this is a gift. Like, he loves his Mother and I love that for him and for us.”

Rodrigo Prieto
Rodrigo Prieto cinematographer

“I'll take Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. I remember being so struck by the color and the cinematography of it. Years later I got the chance to work with Almodóvar in a movie called Broken Embraces in which we actually emulated this film in one of the sequences and I used a specific film emulsion that was Ektachrome because the colors were especially saturated on that film stock. In honor of that moment I'll take Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”

Hari Nef

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Almodóvar. Everything I want out of filmmaking is what Almodóvar does: color, melodrama, women, gender, sex, gay stuff. But this one's about the women and frequently I will just be teleported to this part where Peppa, played by Carmen Maura, is listing the ingredients to gazpacho. She's listing all the things she puts in this gazpacho, which I think she's drugged and given to these police officers and they're all passing out one by one.”

Trace Lysette

“What is this? Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Oh, Almodóvar.”

Boots Riley
Boots Riley director

“Do you have Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown? Yeah, we do. You can see by the cover what I'm talking about. This pops out at you, it pops out of your life, it says something, it magnifies things. Hopefully your life is as fun but not as terrible as the things that happen in Almodóvar movies.”