With a new perspective, the film reveals the distress of women abandoned by men, and describes the troubles encountered by the three women and their moods. This Hollywood comedy film reflects women’s issues, with unconventional techniques and a refreshing feel.
The heroine of the film, Peba, is a talented film voice actor, and her commercials are humorous and moving. Just as Peba was doing smooth sailing in her career, she encountered problems in her personal life. Ivan, who lived with Peba for many years and made her pregnant, abandoned her. The sudden blow made Peba restless, especially when she learned that she was pregnant, and was anxiously waiting for Ivan's call. She wanted to tell Ivan the news, but Peba's hopes repeatedly fell through. Director Almodovar accurately grasped the emotions of the characters in the film, and expressed Peba’s expectations, anxious waiting, disappointment, anger, frustration, and development to a calm and brave face to reality and other psychological changes. Incisively and vividly, it portrays the image of a modern woman who was abandoned but finally stood up from pain. This woman who was able to help others despite being in adversity left a deep impression on the audience.
Lucia, another character in the film, is also a woman who was abandoned by Ivan. After Lucia gave birth to a boy for Ivan, Ivan left her. The ruthless blow made Lucia mentally insane, and she lived in an insane asylum for more than 10 years. After she recovered her memory, she was discharged from the hospital. Lucia wanted to get revenge on Ivan. When she failed to shoot Ivan, she felt that her only way out was to return to the lunatic asylum, where she died. Lucia is the representative of another type of woman cast by Almodóvar and abandoned by men. Lucia fell into pain and couldn't help herself, thus ruining her life. Lucia is a sympathetic but pathetic character. The director gave her an appropriate description, with the purpose of inspiring thoughts.
Candela is the third woman in "The Woman Who is Nearly Broken Down", and she belongs to the "modern woman". Candela accidentally cohabited with the terrorists and got involved in danger. When she was desperate, Peba's help freed her from the pain. As a "modern" female representative, Candela pursues pleasure and sexual desire, has a simple mind and lacks faith, but the nature of human beings is not bad. Such women shaped by Almodovar are very popular in Western society.
The director puts the basic point of reflecting women's issues on portraying women's inner activities. He has only a few touches on the male protagonist Ivan in the film, and uses it as a foil to express women.
"A Woman Nearly Breakdown" is a film with modern consciousness and modern art style. The dialogues, actions, and camera movements of the characters in the film are all fast and accurate, with a strong sense of rhythm. The film’s camera angles vary greatly, using more low angles, using close-ups to close-ups, and panning flexibly, giving the audience a sense of novelty.
"A Woman Nearly Broken Down" is highly appreciative and can be called an elegant comedy. At the beginning of the film, the constantly changing images of high heels and lipsticks show people the world of women in various poses, but in this seemingly colorful world, women's pain and sorrow are hidden. The director used some unique techniques in the film. Peba waiting for the call became the main line of the story. Peba couldn't wait for Ivan's call and became irritable and nervous. Peba dropped the phone angrily. These plots show the views of the director. Almodóvar believes that sometimes the telephone is not a tool for people to communicate with each other, but instead becomes an obstacle to emotional communication between people. Advanced answering phones have become a lying tool for some dishonest people. The use of this technique is inseparable from the experience of director Almodovar. Almodóvar worked for a telephone company for 10 years, which made him feel different about the phone, and he showed this personal experience in the film.
It can be seen from "A Woman Who is Nearly Broken Down" that Almodovar is a film artist who has matured in film language, and thus won the "European Film Award" as a young director. His film is novel in conception and beautiful in appearance. It pays attention to the use of light and the changes in scene scheduling, and can more accurately grasp the use of comedy language. As Almodóvar absorbed the artistic treatment of some outstanding contemporary film masters in the film, the film was not only successful in Spain, but also popular in the United States and Europe. The actress Carmen Mullah, who played Peba in the film, performed well. She performed Peba's hysterical actions and desperate mood just right, and won the "European Film Awards" for the best actress.
Director Pedro Almodóvar (1949～) is one of the famous contemporary film directors in Spain. He has not received special training and is self-taught. He started his film career in 1974 by shooting super 8mm films. After filming the first feature film "Baby, Lucy, Bang, and the Unbeatable Girls" in 1979, it attracted the attention of critics and audiences. So far, he has directed 7 feature films, and has gradually formed his own unique artistic style, making him a popular film artist.
Almodóvar’s films are rich in content, and sometimes several issues are involved in one film at the same time. "Why Am I Like This" (1984), which he directed, involved a series of issues such as drug abuse, sex, family, etc., by describing the life of the cleaning lady Gloria's family. "The Law of Desire" (1987) deals with the current issues of homosexuality and gender change in Western society (the film won the Best Director Award at the Rio de Janeiro Film, TV, and Video Festival, and the Newcomer Award in Los Angeles). The difference between Almodóvar and the old directors of the past is that he is not willing to nostalgia and reflect on the past, but to face the reality and the Spanish society of the 1980s. Almodóvar did not use naturalistic methods to express the problems existing in Western society, but used fictional plots to create a more realistic realm. His films are basically melodramas, but he has added his own rich imagination to traditional narrative methods. His films are quite humorous and have a distinct personal style.
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