Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3702 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-14
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 387 minutes

Synopsis
Features four films from director Pedro Almodovar. DARK HABITS is a comedy set in a rundown Madrid convent where the un-convent-ional nuns write soft porn, get high, and design fabulous evening wear! Also features: PEPI, LUCI, BOM, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? and WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.

Customer Reviews

English Subtitles
After I have ordered everything from Almodovars collection, I read the customer review that there were no english subtitles for the films. I was frustrated and wrote an email to amazon to confirm it. They said that it was correct NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES. I paniced and try to buy the films from Play.com which they say they had subtitles. Fortunately :) they couldnt accept my card. When my order finally came from amazon I have checked every single film. To my surprise there were english subtitles to every single one of them. I was really really happy. I think amazon should review the dvds of Almodovar and put that there are english subtitles on the description since it is very misleading for customers. Thank God play.com didnt accept my credit card, which by the way is a terrible site with no customer support.

A comedy about someone U really KNOW.....
The wildly hysterical international box office hit, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, introduces us to Pepa (Carmen Maura) who has just been jilted by an answering machine. The love of her life, Ivan, (Fernando Guillén) has just ended their relationship and she is heartbroken.

But misery does love company. Her girlfriend, Candela, has fallen in love with a terrorist. Ivan's son wants to rent the love nest Pepa shared with Ivan. Ivan's crazed wife arrives with loaded guns and Ivan himself is about to fly off to Stockholm with his new girlfriend on a plane that Candela's boyfriend plans to hijack. Pedro Almodovar's films are usually twisted, zany, and a bit disconcerting. This is probably one of his best films, along with "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down", (also starring Banderas). He uses many of the same actors in his films, but this is probably the best use of Maura in any of his films. Pepa is a strong, formidable character that evolves throughout "Women." From first meeting her in the film it appears that she is shallow and one-dimensional, but in the final scenes of the movie, particularly when she finally gets a hold of Ivan, you realize that she is indeed a decent person.

It's enough to drive any woman to a nervous breakdown - or beyond, in this madcap farce from acclaimed director Pedro Almlódovar.

Universal Shennanigans
In 'Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown', Pedro Almodovar subtley overturns traditional gender stereotypes. Outside of the shennanigans she encounters from place to place, Pepa takes stock of her situation in the taxi that carries her between buildings. Its here she recognizes that the mechanics of motorcycles are much easier to fathom than those of male psychology. Ivan's first wife Lucia, remains in the 60's fashion she was wearing when he left her. It's almost as if time stopped for her the moment he left. The array of colours seem to be used as a metaphor for the full and intense emotions of the women involved, compared to the grey and black of Carlos and Ivan.

Apparently Almodovar had to film the balcony scenes in a studio because the downtown skyline of Madrid is now just a sea of office and apartment buildings. Almodovar has never made any secret of the fact that a director should "never borrow, but steal if it is justified" from another director. Witness his homage to Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' when Pepa looks across the street into Lucia's apartment building.

It's ironic that in his native Spain, Pedro Almodovar finally broke free from being described as a 'cult' director to being appreciated by a wider audience with the massive success of this film. Meanwhile in the U.S., the film was specifically marketed by Orion as a 'minority' picture aimed at an Hispanic and female audience. They must have been pleasantly surprised when the audiences for this film crossed racial and gender barriers.