10/07/2025 - Félix Sabroso's satirical comedy unleashes black humour and explodes like a grenade, powered by a cast of actresses who revel in plots where they can let their hair down

On Friday 11 July, the first two 30-minute episodes of Rage, the new series created and directed by Félix Sabroso, following his work on Fleeting Lies [+see also:
series review
interview: Esther García
series profile], will have their global premiere on HBO Max. The remaining episodes will be released weekly, every Friday, until all eight have aired. Viewers would be wise to stock up on vitamins before tuning in, because what they are about to see will blow their minds while leaving them in stitches.

The ones who demonstrate this titanic fury are none other than actresses Carmen Machi, Candela Peña, Nathalie Poza, Cecilia Roth, and Pilar Castro, supported by Claudia Salas, Ana Torrent, Pedro Casablanc, Alberto San Juan, and Pepón Nieto, among others. The plot, with intertwining characters and stories, introduces Marga (played by Machi), a wealthy and pretentious artist whose husband, a television executive, is having an affair with their maid. Vera (Pilar Castro), Marga's friend, is a celebrity chef who is under attack from a critic. Nat (Candela Peña) is a high-end fashion sales assistant whose clients include Marga and Vera. Her job is threatened when the company hires young girls with more followers on social media. Adela (Nathalie Poza) is unemployed and is about to be evicted, along with her elderly mother, by her landlord. And Victoria (Cecilia Roth), Adela and Nat's neighbour, is a forgotten actress from 1970s erotic cinema, who receives an offer that could be her big comeback. These five women reach their limits and take revenge... with unpredictable results.

With its intense colours, the series is reminiscent not only of Pedro Almodóvar's dramatic comedy Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown [+see also:
trailer
film profile], but also – albeit with a higher degree of acidity – of the American series Desperate Housewives and, due to its episodic, explosive and furious nature, of Wild Tales [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the Argentine gem by Damián Szifrón. The series also channels Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Brian de Palma's Carrie, and Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, to name a few examples of revenge movies.

All of this is elevated by Sabroso's personal touch, as he pours his unique universe into this film. Much like the characters in Rated R, he transforms Cecilia Roth into a striptease artist, and he reprises the formal baroque style of Perdona bonita, pero Lucas me quería a mí, and he has once again brought in Alberto San Juan after working together on The Island Inside [+see also:
interview: Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso
film profile], as well as other favourite faces such as Candela Peña, Pepón Nieto and Pilar Castro, who all appear here.

Rage is an explosive party, a riotous blend of black humour as bitter as bile, where the protagonists — fed up with deceit, abuse and frustrations of a world sold out to lies, cynicism, posturing and ageism — choose to take justice into their own hands. Think Charles Bronson in a skirt and on the loose, as they blow up their miserable lives to smithereens. A cathartic series that holds up a mirror to the murky desires that we repress, but enjoy watching as a handful of wonderful actresses enjoy fulfilling them in this fun and delirious fiction.

Rage is a series by Producciones Mandarina for HBO Max.

(Translated from Spanish)