Apr – May 2022 Film Calendar

18

What Have I Done to Deserve This? with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Sat, Apr 2 | 7:30pm | TMT

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Almodóvar’s darkly comedic feature What Have I Done to Deserve This? depicts a woman at odds with familial and societal expectations. Pill-popping Gloria (Carmen Maura) lives in a tiny Madrid apartment with her husband, their two sons, and her mother-in-law. Despite their economic woes, her abusive husband will not allow her to look for work. But her world is enlivened by eccentric neighbors and a bright green lizard (who also happens to be the only witness to a murder).

DIRECTOR: Pedro Almodóvar.

WRITTEN BY: Pedro Almodóvar.

CAST: Carmen Maura, Luis Hostalot, Gonzalo Suárez, Ángel de Andrés-López. 1984. 101 min. Spain. Color. Spanish. DCP.

Courtesy of El Deseo.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Dealing with a recent breakup, Pepa (Carmen Maura) decides to end her problems by drinking a spiked gazpacho. A series of absurd and fantastical coincidences—including a terrorist plot involving her best friend, and the arrival of her ex-lover's grown son (Antonio Banderas) to rent Pepa’s flat with his fiancée—interrupt her plan. Composed of equal parts comedy, drama, and heart, this hilarious comedy of errors played out in a Madrid apartment garnered international attention, and earned Spain an Oscar nomina- tion for Foreign Language Film.

DIRECTOR: Pedro Almodóvar.

WRITTEN BY: Pedro Almodóvar.

CAST: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco. 1988. 88 min. Spain. Color. Spanish. 35mm. Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

PEDRO ALMODÓVAR

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