Contemporary Spanish Cinema
Week 1: Analysing Film: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios
Preparation for class discussion
Watch Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, preferably more than once, and make notes in
response to the following questions.
Mise-en-scène
The following aspects of a film are usually considered as components of ‘mise-en-scène’ and are
important in generating the overall look and feel of a film. For each of the headings below, list
examples of usage in Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios that strike you as interesting,
important or unusual. (The number of potential examples in the film is almost limitless, but try to
come up with a handful for each category.) Try to determine what effects different techniques have on
the appearance of the film and on our experience of it.
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Setting (whether ‘real’ locations or artificial sets)
Props (important objects and accessories)
Costume and make-up
Light and lighting
Acting and performance (figure expression and movement)
Colour and composition – which are also a product of…
Cinematography
Camerawork
Do you notice any striking instances of camera movement or framing? Why do you think they are
chosen?
Editing – continuity
Show how the editing of the film helps to draw us into the narrative and strengthen the logical links
between scenes.
Discontinuity
Can you find examples where the editing seems deliberately chaotic or confusing? Where and why?
Rhythm
How does editing relate to rhythm? Which scenes in the film seem to have a fast pace and which have
a slower pace? How is this achieved, and why?
Sound
Note the use of sound and music in the film. Film sound can be divided into three categories: voices
(dialogue), music and sound effects. Try to remain attentive to these three different types of sound and
consider how they interact.
What do you notice about the dialogue in the film?
Music is quite prominent in Mujeres. Find examples that are diegetic (i.e. that have their source in the
fictional world of the film) and examples that are non-diegetic (that have no clear source in the world
of the film and have instead been added later). Are there examples where this distinction is confused?
What do you think is the role of music in general in the film and how does it relate to the image?
Narrative
Analyse the film’s narrative structure. What are the key drivers of the narrative? What motivates the
characters? What are the important turning points of the plot? Show how scenes follow each other in a
relation of cause to effect. To what extent are loose ends tied up at the end of the film?
Time
What order do the scenes come in and why? How does the duration of the film reflect the duration of
the story in real life? How much time is elided (or expanded)?
Character
List the key character traits of all the important characters in the film (both the main protagonists and
the more minor characters). From whose point of view is this story told? How can you tell? How are
we encouraged to identify with the central character(s)? What function(s) do the different characters
fulfill? To what extent, and in what ways, do the characters develop over the course of the film?