Box office
The film was the highest-grossing Spanish film of all-time in Spain with a gross of 1.1 billion pesetas, surpassing La vaquilla (1985),[3] equivalent to US$8 million.[2] It was also the most successful Spanish film in the United States at the time, with a gross of $7.2 million.[7][4]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown finds writer-director Pedro Almodóvar working in a distinctly feminist vein, with richly rewarding results."[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]
The film was ranked number 78 on Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" list in 2010.[10]
Nils Gollersrud comments that "Almodóvar's signature formula of gaudy, ironic, genre-bending storytelling had achieved a symbiosis of sorts, presenting a more confident and satisfying version of his unique cinematic vision that his earlier, rougher films had not yet achieved".[11]
Accolades
United States
-
Academy Awards
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
-
Golden Globe Awards
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
-
National Board of Review
- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
-
New York Film Critics
- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Runner-up: Best Actress (Carmen Maura)
United Kingdom
-
BAFTA Awards (UK)
- Nominated: Best Film not in the English Language
Europe
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David di Donatello Awards (Italy)
- Won: Best Foreign Direction (Pedro Almodóvar)
-
European Film Awards
- Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Carmen Maura)
- Won: Best Young Film (Pedro Almodóvar)
- Nominated: Best Art Direction (Félix Murcia)
-
Goya Awards (Spain)
- Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Carmen Maura)
- Won: Best Actress – Supporting Role (María Barranco)
- Won: Best Editing (José Salcedo)
- Won: Best Film
- Won: Best Screenplay – Original (Pedro Almodóvar)
- Nominated: Best Actor – Supporting Role (Guillermo Montesinos)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Julieta Serrano)
- Nominated: Best Cinematography (José Luis Alcaine)
- Nominated: Best Costume Design (José María Cossío)
- Nominated: Best Director (Pedro Almodóvar)
- Nominated: Best Makeup and Hairstyles (Jesús Moncusi and Gregorio Ros)
- Nominated: Best Original Score (Bernardo Bonezzi)
- Nominated: Best Production Design (Félix Murcia)
- Nominated: Best Production Supervision (Esther García)
- Nominated: Best Sound (Gilles Ortion)
- Nominated: Best Special Effects (Reyes Abades)
-
Venice Film Festival (Italy)
- Won: Golden Osella – Best Screenplay (Pedro Almodóvar)
