Chus Lampreave

In Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Lampreave's Jehovah's Witness goalkeeper delivers the absurd with a straight face. We laughed because she gives the oddness so little emphasis. Carmen Maura's practical, beleaguered Pepa holds this crowded farce together, while Lampreave offers the particular pleasure of someone who sees no reason to make a fuss. The plot can become overbusy, but her deadpan suits a film in which another complication is seldom far away.

Her work with Almodóvar began in Dark Habits (1983), followed by the eccentric grandmother in What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984). Across their eight films together, relatives and concierges became familiar parts of her work, often played behind thick glasses. She also worked repeatedly with Luis García Berlanga and Fernando Trueba, playing Doña Asun for Trueba in Belle Époque (1992). There is more to explore here than one director's fondness for a familiar face.

In the later Volver (2006), where she plays Aunt Paula, we particularly value the humour and humanity she gives a supporting part. Penélope Cruz gives Almodóvar's family melodrama its practical, impatient warmth, and Lampreave belongs comfortably in that company. We like how little ceremony there is about her contribution; an older relative can be funny and worth caring about without becoming an occasion for solemn acting. The film occasionally makes forgiveness too comfortable, but we recommend it for its performances and its attention to work and grief.

There is a limit to what these appearances can carry, and we would not make Lampreave responsible for everything that works around her. Maura and Cruz do the heavier work in the two films we recommend most readily here. Lampreave can deliver a peculiar line without insisting that we notice how peculiar it is, a useful quality when so much else demands attention. Start with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for the deadpan, then Volver for Aunt Paula.