IMDb plot summary: Although wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage.
Directed by John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Fred Draper.
A Woman Under the Influence is a John Cassavetes film starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands as a working class couple with children. Rowlands clearly has some mental instability, possibly something like bipolar disorder, given that we see what appear to be both manic and depressive episodes, but Falk has no idea how to deal with it. Worst of all, his big concern seems to be primarily how this will reflect on him in the workplace in the community. I have not yet found a Cassavetes film that I like... until this one. It's just as early mumblecore as all of his others, but for the first time I could track the characters and their frustrations and their motivations. Geina Rowlands is truly tremendous in this. Her character is clearly so unwell, but all of her husband's suggestions for dealing with it are so obviously going to make things worse, and it's impossible not to be on her side as she desperately tries to keep herself together so that she can stay with her children. There are a slew of other characters, doctors and coworkers and children, who fade in and out of the story, but the focus is always on the couple, and they are the ones who really captivate. Absolutely worth a watch.
How it entered my Flickchart:
A Woman Under the Influence > The Anderson Tapes
A Woman Under the Influence > Dark Passage
A Woman Under the Influence > Six Degrees of Separation
A Woman Under the Influence < The Great Dictator
A Woman Under the Influence > The Gods Must Be Crazy
A Woman Under the Influence < Petite Maman
A Woman Under the Influence < It Follows
A Woman Under the Influence < Nosferatu
A Woman Under the Influence < The Producers (2005)
A Woman Under the Influence > Adaptation
A Woman Under the Influence < Nativity!
A Woman Under the Influence < Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar
Final spot: #352 out of 3799, or 91%.
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