Movie Screening: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Consider the context of this film: Spanish speaking Europe, Spain.
How are Spanish speaking women interactions with men within the same culture? Are feelings over reacted in the film?
Do you find differences between women in the film and today’s American women? What could have been different in the film if the context was the United States?
Add your own impressions about the film plot
Do you think there is a difference among women from Spanish America and women from Spanish Europe?
4 comments:
I found this film to be very..... odd. I wasn't a fan of the movie and thought it was wierd, I can't really put it any other way. The main character, Pepa played a woman who was heartbroken and was trying to get a hold of Ivan to inform him that she was now pregnant. She goes through her own process of getting over him, but the situations and characters she runs into are what makes the film sour for me. I know it is a comedy, but I thought that this comedy was farther from an American comedy as you can get. I have never seen a comedy like this. It was even more far fetched than Will Ferrell's wierdest comedy film! From all of the dramatic emotions and everyone doing the unexpected, you never knew what was going to happen next.
I did think that some of Pepa's feelings were overreacted, (such as burning her mattress!), but for Pepa that is what she needed to get over her memories of Ivan, and I can respect that. If it is a norm in the hispanic culture that men are 'womanizers', then I think they should be more cautious about who they date!! :)
I can't really say for sure what I think would have been different in the film if the context was the US, besides the obvious being the location. I've seen movies where there is a similar plot or situation, and I think that any of the craziness from this film could be featured in a US comedy.
I don't think there is too much that is different from women from Spanish America to Spanish Europe, but in each movie they have been portrayed in a different way. In La Misma Luna, Rosario was a woman who was working hard to provide better for her son, while in Machuca, the 'rich' women were shown to be loving to their children, but were often gone doing other things. In this movie, the women were shown as super emotional beings, often unpredictable. So it is hard for me to pick out specific things that I think are different.
Hopefully next week's movie will be better! Sorry for the bad reviews...
Amy great comparison between all the three movies, that is a great analysis. I think bringing all women characters into one general comparisons helps us realize differences or similarities clearly. Great input!
I did not really "get" the movie. It had it's funny moments, but no real plot or major story line except that Ivan was a womanizer, Pepa was pregnant with his child,Carlos was apparently not much different then his father (hitting on Candela), Candela was crazy and odd, and Lucia was just sort of there, no real identity. I do not really know how to address Spanish speaking interactions with men within their same culture except to say that Ivan did not really want to interact or talk to women unless he was having a realtaionship with them. He would not return the calls of Pepa and just wanted to move on and wrote her the letter to break up. I hope that not all men in this culture take women for granted and are as cowardly as he was. I do not really see many differences between women in this movie and today's american women. I would not act as crazy as Pepa did with the situation such as burning the bed, or breaking the window, but I am sure there are people out there all over the world who become crazed when faced with a similiar situations. I do not think anything in the context of the film would have needed to be different if in the US except instead of gopacho( that drink thing) maybe it would have been mimosa or cosmopolitans! There are many silly, no plot films in the US as well, such as Beer Fest and Better off Dead ( my husbands favorite). I am sure it was very difficult for Pepa to be in that situation, however, she just needed to realize she was better off without that sleeze ball. Men cheat on women everyday all over the world I do not think this is specific to the spanish culture and just like anywhere, there are good guys and bad guys. I did not really like this movie,but after seeing La Misma Luna it wil be hard to top that. The women from Spanish America and Spanish Europe may have been different in all of the movies that we have watched, but they all came from very different backgrounds. I find Americans that are all raised in the same area can be very different in how they behave,act and treat others. I see this everyday in my job and my own community.
I agree the movie was odd. It is a very difficult movie to even make a coment on.
Pepa, the other woman was ackting out because she felt hurt by the way she was being treated. With the fact that, as we found out latter during the mivie that she was expecting; her emotions were not over plaied.
The wife in the movie, mentally ill; her reactions were not over reacted because of the fact she was ill and was not able to judge her actions.
I think the movie was in poor taste but it was not maade with our culture in mind.
by Roberta Petreson
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