What Have I Done to Deserve This? may be early enough in Almodóvar's portfolio that the unique formula is as yet unrefined, but all the ingredients are in place: a medicated housewife harried to hysteria (Carmen Maura, in the first of many Almodóvar lead roles), hypocritical artists, sexually precocious kids, a whore with a heart of gold and a folkwise long-suffering grandma. All of the above yammer incessantly at each other, and the parrot house effect is accentuated by there seeming to be no-one in Madrid besides the dozen characters, whose paths keep on crossing in unlikely ways. So it's hardly surprising when Maura's character, less stress-proofed than in her later roles, does eventually flip, and this just irons out a kink in the fabric of the story.
The dialogue and set-ups are also good for intermittent nervous laughter, and if in the end Almodóvar clearly hasn't decided whether he was making a black comedy or a serious drama, it's no great dereliction of directorial duty as we're nevertheless guided quite logically to a close securely in the realm of urban parable.
6/10
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