A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

First of all - enough with the trivializing "oh, of course a woman in this situation would go crazy". Mabel is mentally ill. Mental illness had more of a stigma in 1974 than 40+ years later, yet that doesn't diminish the impact of the movie or accolades of Rowlands' masterful performance. We respect Mabel for who she is - we sympathize with her. The strong performances of Rowland and Falk make for an engrossing film.The camera sits there and lets the scene happen, and what comes out is a gritty, realistic-looking piece of cinematographic history.

Gena Rowlands is cast as the woman under the influence of some undefined mental disorder. Her acting is superb; when the camera is in a close-up of her face, her chops are just better than anything I have seen. Her facial gestures, the eyes, furrowing of the brows, nose twitching, everything - is the best I have seen in an actor portraying emotions and thoughts without having to say too much. Wow.In my opinion, it was her husband, Nick (Peter Falk) who was the one who needed to be put away. He portrayed a man who was angry, and he was angry and violent throughout the movie, for the most part. Poor Mabel (Rowlands), she was at the mercy of his anger and emotionally did what she had to do to cope.But this was a different era; it was shown, through Cassavetes' writing and direction, that it was acceptable then, in some American blue-collar homes, to slap women around, threaten people, give children alcohol, as long as it was the man of the house doing it.How times have changed, and it was through movies like this, where bizarre social behavior that was on the borderline of acceptable in that era, may have been a catalyst for the audience to examine their own emotions and mores.

Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk gave career defining performances in this 1974 film regarding the insanity of the wife and how it affects the family.Falk can be just as wily as he has to contend with wife Rowlands's outrageous behavior.It seems that the situations involved in this marriage just allow for the Rowlands character to go berserk. The film shows how children are affected by the occurrences and how well- intentioned family and friends can also lend to the chaos we observe.Rowlands is just terrific by the contortions she makes sometimes acting as if she is Lucille Ball-like and other times just driven to madness.

With starring roles in "The Dirty Dozen" and "Rosemary's Baby", John Cassavetes was one of Hollywood's strongest actors during the late 1960s. Today, however, he is perhaps better remembered for his innovations behind the camera - the author of 'Shadows', 'Faces', 'A Woman Under the Influence', and 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie', films shot in a gritty, Cinema Verite-style that featured strong performances from a repertoire of actors including Seymour Cassel, Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, and Gena Rowlands."A Woman Under the Influence" is the apex of Cassavetes' artistry and perhaps his greatest film. It recounts the story of Mabel Longhetti (Gena Rowlands), a housewife/mother with failing mental health. The film tells of the incidences that lead her to suffer a nervous breakdown, the toll Mabel's struggles have on her husband Nick (Peter Falk) and three children, and her shaky readjustment to normal life after a 6-month stay in a mental hospital.Gena Rowlands' performance as a troubled house-wife is powerful and electrifying. Cassavetes' style is frequently imitated but rarely bettered, and the extent of his talent is on full display here. The documentary filming helps draw us into the inner world of the family, and we as an audience are subject to the Longhetti's eccentricity and dysfunction but also the love and togetherness that offers a sort of transcendence. There have been many indie movies and docudramas centered on familial dysfunction since, but in terms of poetry and emotional resonance, "A Woman Under the Influence" is peerless.9/10