A Woman Under the Influence is a 1974 American drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes, and starring his wife Gena Rowlands and close friend Peter Falk. Rowlands plays a housewife whose unusual behavior leads to conflict with her blue-collar husband (Falk) and family.[4]
In 1990, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".[7]
Plot
Although she is hesitant to do so, Mabel Longhetti, a Los Angeles housewife and mother who exhibits strange behavior, sends her three young children—Tony, Angelo, and Maria—to spend the night with her mother so she and her husband, Nick, can have a date night. Unfortunately, Nick, who is the foreman of a utility crew, has to cancel to fix a burst water main. Alone and drunk, Mabel goes to a bar and behaves very familiarly to a stranger named Garson Cross, who takes her home. She is almost unconscious by the time they get there, and Garson forces himself on her while she feebly attempts to fight him off.
The next morning, a confused Mabel briefly argues with Garson—whom she confuses by calling him "Nick"—before he leaves. Nick brings his 11-member crew to the house for breakfast after their long night, and Mabel makes everyone spaghetti. She is very polite to Nick's colleagues, but she asks several of them for their names, even though they have met before. The meal is superficially pleasant, until Nick snaps at Mabel for making one of his men feel uncomfortable by being overly warm to him, and the men use a phone call from Nick's mother as an excuse to make a hurried exit.
Mabel hosts a play date, but the father of the other children, Harold Jensen, is disturbed by her behavior and reluctant to leave his children alone with her. Nick comes home with his mother, Margaret, to find all of the children half-naked and running wild, with Jensen trying to get his children dressed. He slaps Mabel and gets into a fistfight with an angry Jensen, but Margaret breaks them up, and Jensen leaves with his children.
At his wits' end, Nick calls Mabel's doctor, Dr. Zepp, to evaluate her mental health. Mabel gets worked up, particularly by the presence of her mother-in-law, who calls Mabel a bad wife and an unfit mother when Nick is trying to calm her down. She becomes increasingly detached from reality, and violently resists when Dr. Zepp tries give to her a sedative injection. Convinced she has become a threat to herself and others, Dr. Zepp has Mabel involuntarily committed.
At work, Nick is on edge and yells at his coworkers when they ask about what happened with Mabel. Eddie, Nick's closest friend, remains quiet, but even this rubs Nick the wrong way. He yells at Eddie while Eddie is rappelling down a steep incline, and Eddie falls and gets injured. Afterward, Nick picks up his children from school early to go to the beach and allows them to sip his beer.
Six months later, Nick plans a large surprise welcome home party to celebrate Mabel's return from the hospital. However, his mother points out that this may be overwhelming for her, and Nick has her ask all of the guests who are not family to leave. When Mabel arrives, she is quiet and apprehensive, and no one else knows what to say, either. Nick tries his best to make Mabel feel comfortable, but, when she begins to joke around, he blows up and says they are going to have a normal conversation. Mabel says she does not know how to act without the routine provided by the hospital, which included therapies and medications and shock treatments, and she asks everyone to leave. While the guests get their coats, Mabel begins to dance on the couch while humming the theme from Swan Lake.
When Nick approaches Mabel, she runs into the bathroom and cuts her hand with a razor. He stops her, and she runs to the living room and climbs back up on the couch. The children, confused and concerned, try to protect Mabel by pushing Nick away from her. Nick slaps Mabel, knocking her to the ground, and then tries to put the children to bed, but they escape and go back to Mabel. Seeming somewhat recovered, Mabel, still bleeding, takes the children upstairs and tucks them in while they express their love for her. She and Nick go back downstairs, where he tends to her hand and they clean up and get ready for bed.
Sonny Aprile as Aldo, the party guest who wants to leave because he does not know Mabel
Ellen Davalos as Nancy, Eddie's wife
Joanne Moore Jordan as Muriel, the party guest who kisses Nick on the mouth
John Hawker as Joseph Morton, the member of Nick's crew who spills his spaghetti
Sil Words as James "Jimmy" Turner, a member of Nick's crew
Elizabeth Deering as Angela, a relative at the party
Jackie Peters as Tina, the relative who makes the food for the party
Elsie Ames as Miss Hinkley, the Longhetti children's school principal
Nicholas John Cassavetes (credited as N.J. Cassavetes) as Adolph, a friend of the Longhetti family
Production
John Cassavetes was inspired to write A Woman Under the Influence when his wife Gena Rowlands expressed a desire to appear in a play about the difficulties faced by contemporary women. His completed script was so intense and emotional that she knew she would be unable to perform it eight times a week, so he decided to adapt it for the screen.[8]
When he tried to raise funding for the film, Cassavetes was told that "No one wants to see a crazy, middle-aged dame."[8] Lacking studio financing, he mortgaged his house and borrowed money from family and friends, one of whom was Peter Falk, who liked the screenplay so much that he invested $500,000 in the project.[8]
The crew consisted of professionals and students from the American Film Institute, where Cassavetes was serving as the first "filmmaker in residence" at their Center for Advanced Film Studies. Working with a limited budget forced him to shoot scenes in a real house near Hollywood Boulevard, and Rowlands was responsible for her own hairstyling and makeup.[8]
Release
Upon completion of the film, Cassavetes was unable to find a distributor, so he personally called theater owners and asked them to show it. He got it booked at art houses and shown on college campuses, where he and Falk would discuss it with the audience. According Jeff Lipsky, a college student who was hired to help distribute the film: "It was the first time in the history of motion pictures that an independent film was distributed without the use of a nationwide system of sub-distributors."[8]
The film was screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival, where Rowlands was named Best Actress and Cassavetes won the Silver Shell Award for Best Director, and the New York Film Festival, where it captured the attention of such film critics as Rex Reed. When Richard Dreyfuss appeared on The Mike Douglas Show with Peter Falk, he described A Woman as "the most incredible, disturbing, scary, brilliant, dark, sad, depressing movie", and added that he "went crazy. I went home and vomited", which prompted curious audiences to seek out the film capable of making Dreyfuss (who is himself bipolar) ill.[8]
On September 21, 2004, The Criterion Collection released the film—together with Shadows (1959), Faces (1968), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), and Opening Night (1977)—in Region 1 as part of the eight-disc DVDbox setJohn Cassavetes: Five Films. Bonus features for the film include an audio commentary by composer and sound recordist Bo Harwood and camera operator Mike Ferris, a video conversation between Rowlands and Falk, an essay by film critic Kent Jones, and audio and written interviews with Cassavetes from 1975. On October 22, 2013, the box set was re-released on Blu-ray.[10]
Reception and legacy
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 35 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Electrified by searing performances from Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, A Woman Under the Influence finds pioneering independent filmmaker John Cassavetes working at his artistic peak."[11]
Nora Sayre of The New York Times observed: "Miss Rowlands unleashes an extraordinary characterization. [...] The actress’s style of performing sometimes shows a kinship with that of the early Kim Stanley or the recent Joanne Woodward, but the notes of desperation are emphatically her own. [...] Peter Falk gives a rousing performance [...] and the children are very well directed. But the movie didn't need to be 2 hours and 35 minutes long: there's too much small talk, which doesn't really reveal character. Still, the most frightening scenes are extremely compelling, and this is a thoughtful film that does prompt serious discussion."[12]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "terribly complicated, involved and fascinating – a revelation", and saying: "The characters are larger than life (although not less convincing because of that), and their loves and rages, their fights and moments of tenderness, exist at exhausting levels of emotion. [...] Cassavetes is strongest as a writer and filmmaker at creating specific characters and then sticking with them through long, painful, uncompromising scenes until we know them well enough to read them, to predict what they'll do next and even to begin to understand why."[13] He later added the film to his "Great Movies" list, in which he called it "perhaps the greatest of Cassavetes' films."[14]
Time Out London wrote: "The brilliance of the film lies in its sympathetic and humorous exposure of social structure. Rowlands unfortunately overdoes the manic psychosis at times, and lapses into a melodramatic style which is unconvincing and unsympathetic; but Falk is persuasively insane as the husband; and the result is an astonishing, compulsive film, directed with a crackling energy."[15]
TV Guide gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "tough-minded", "moving", and "an insightful essay on sexual politics."[16]
In Sight and Sound's 2012 poll of the greatest films of all time, the film placed 59th in the directors' poll and 144th in the critics' poll.[21] In 2015, the BBC named A Woman the 31st greatest American film ever made.[22]
In 1990, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", one of the first fifty films to be so honored.[7][23]
Shadows is a 1959 American independent drama film directed by John Cassavetes about race relations during the Beat Generation years in New York City. The film stars Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, and Hugh Hurd as three black siblings, though only one of them is dark-skinned enough to be considered African American. The film was initially shot in 1957 and shown in 1958, but a poor reception prompted Cassavetes to rework it in 1959. Promoted as a completely improvisational film, it was intensively rehearsed in 1957, and in 1959 it was fully scripted.
Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades. She was a four-time Emmy Award and two-time Golden Globe winner, was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Gloria is a 1980 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster's former girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.
John Nicholas Cassavetes was a Greek-American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self-financing, producing, and distributing his own films. He received nominations for three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award.
Faces is a 1968 American drama film written, produced, and directed by John Cassavetes—his fourth directorial work. It depicts, shot in cinéma vérité-style, the final stages of the disintegrating marriage of a middle-aged couple, played by John Marley and newcomer Lynn Carlin. Cassavetes regulars Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Fred Draper, and Val Avery also star.
Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as She's So Lovely (1997), John Q. (2002), The Notebook (2004), Alpha Dog (2006), and My Sister's Keeper (2009). His acting credits include an uncredited role in Husbands (1970)—which was directed by his father, John Cassavetes—as well as roles in the films The Wraith (1986), Face/Off (1997), and Blow (2001).
Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes is an American actress and director. She is the daughter of Greek-American actor-director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. She is the granddaughter of actress Katherine Cassavetes. She is the sister of actor-director Nick Cassavetes and actor-screenwriter-director Zoe Cassavetes.
She's So Lovely is a 1997 American romantic drama film written by John Cassavetes and directed by his son Nick Cassavetes. At the time of its release, it received special attention because, eight years after his death, it was the first film to feature previously unreleased material from John Cassavetes. The film stars Sean Penn and John Travolta as two men who bid for the affection of Maureen Murphy Quinn. Harry Dean Stanton co-stars as a friend of Penn's character, and James Gandolfini plays the abusive neighbor.
Opening Night is a 1977 American psychological drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes, and starring Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart, Zohra Lampert, and Cassavetes. Its plot follows a stage actress who, after witnessing the accidental death of a fan, struggles through a nervous breakdown while she prepares for an upcoming Broadway premiere.
Katherine Cassavetes was an American actress of Greek origin. She was the mother of actor-director John Cassavetes and mother-in-law of actress Gena Rowlands. Her grandchildren are actor-directors Nick Cassavetes, Zoe Cassavetes, and Alexandra Cassavetes.
Minnie and Moskowitz is a 1971 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes and starring his wife Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel in the title roles of Minnie and Moskowitz, respectively.
A Child Is Waiting is a 1963 American drama film directed by John Cassavetes, produced by Stanley Kramer, and written by Abby Mann based on his 1957 Westinghouse Studio One teleplay of the same name. It stars Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland as, respectively, the director of a state institution for intellectually disabled and emotionally disturbed children, and a new teacher who challenges his methods.
Broken English is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Zoe Cassavetes, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Parker Posey, Melvil Poupaud, Drea de Matteo, Justin Theroux, Peter Bogdanovich, and Gena Rowlands.
Tempest is a 1982 American adventure comedy-drama romance film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a loose modern-day adaptation of the Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The picture features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raúl Juliá and Molly Ringwald in her feature film debut.
Two-Minute Warning is a 1976 action thriller film directed by Larry Peerce and starring Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, Martin Balsam, Beau Bridges, Jack Klugman, Gena Rowlands, and David Janssen. It was based on the novel of the same name written by George LaFountaine. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
Zoe Rowlands Cassavetes is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She is the daughter of filmmaker John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. She is best known for her 2007 film Broken English.
Machine Gun McCain is a 1969 English-language Italian crime film directed by Giuliano Montaldo and starring John Cassavetes, Britt Ekland, Peter Falk, Gabriele Ferzetti, and Florinda Bolkan. Cassavetes' spouse and regular collaborator Gena Rowlands appears in a supporting role. The film is based on the Ovid Demaris novel Candyleg, adapted by Montaldo, Mino Roli, and American playwright Israel Horovitz. It premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
John Cassavetes began his career in film in 1953 and ended it in 1986, between which times he was involved in every aspect of the film, television, and stage arts, including acting, directing, scoring, shooting, editing, producing, and marketing.
Lady Rowlands was an American film actress. Most of her work came in the films of John Cassavetes, who was married to her daughter, actress Gena Rowlands.
Vittoria Febbi is an Italian actress and voice actress.
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