Julieta Serrano brings complications to Pedro Almodóvar’s mothers and authority figures. We especially value her in his ensembles, where she can make the trouble more entertaining without insisting on being the centre of it.
Fi1m perspective
In Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Julieta Serrano’s Lucía adds another source of trouble to a farce already crowded with it. Carmen Maura’s Pepa is the practical centre, and Serrano belongs to the agitation around her. We like that she contributes to the comedy without displacing the woman who holds it together. Her value here is in the company, alongside Antonio Banderas as Carlos and María Barranco as Candela. The film needs those competing demands, even if the plot occasionally supplies one too many.
Isabelita in Mi querida señorita (1972) was an earlier breakthrough, but the recurring mothers and authority figures in Almodóvar’s films give us a clearer way into her work. In Dark Habits (1983) she plays an unconventional Mother Superior; in Matador (1986), Berta is another of her maternal roles. These parts allow room for eccentricity and repression, rather than requiring the older woman to be a reassuring presence.
The ensemble in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown also depends on José Salcedo’s editing, which keeps the scattered action from breaking into separate episodes. Serrano’s contribution benefits from that speed: Lucía remains part of the mounting difficulty, rather than a diversion from it. We laughed at the pressure building around Maura, with Serrano helping to make another complication feel both funny and unwelcome. Bernardo Bonezzi’s music supports the bustle without insisting that we notice it. Credit for the comic rhythm still belongs chiefly to Maura, and admiring Serrano need not mean pretending otherwise.
Her older Jacinta in Pain and Glory (2019) offers a later example of the emotional depth she can bring to a maternal role. The caveat with such a long association is that familiar casting can encourage us to remember earlier films rather than attend to the character in front of us. For an introduction, start with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and its busy company; allow for rather more plot than anyone strictly requires.
Biography
Julieta Serrano is a Spanish actress known for her work in theatre and cinema. Her career began in the 1950s with amateur theatre in Barcelona before she joined professional companies and appeared in films from the mid-1960s onwards.
She has collaborated frequently with director Pedro Almodóvar, playing Lucía in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and Old Jacinta in Pain and Glory (2019). Other notable film roles include appearances in Matador (1986), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) and Parallel Mothers (2021).
Serrano has received several awards, including the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress for Pain and Glory and the Premio Nacional de Teatro in 2018.
