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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