A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Graham J

  
  Two of the best performances I've ever seen. Gena Rowlands makes you fall in love with her and feel sorry for her. Peter Falk is great as the rough man who tries to cope with his wife losing her mind. The scene with Falk sitting in the back of a pick up truck sharing a beer with… More
  Two of the best performances I've ever seen. Gena Rowlands makes you fall in love with her and feel sorry for her. Peter Falk is great as the rough man who tries to cope with his wife losing her mind. The scene with Falk sitting in the back of a pick up truck sharing a beer with his kids is priceless.

• Stella D

  
  a devastating film containing one of the bravest performances ever seen, for which gena rowlands is justly celebrated, overshadowing the fine work of her costar. peter falk is completely natural as the frustrated blue collar husband trying to deal with his emotionally fragile and… More
  a devastating film containing one of the bravest performances ever seen, for which gena rowlands is justly celebrated, overshadowing the fine work of her costar. peter falk is completely natural as the frustrated blue collar husband trying to deal with his emotionally fragile and increasingly eccentric wife. the film goes places no one else dared, exhibiting the rawest possible emotions and investigating every corner of the family's life. peter falk may be best remembered as the rumpled detective columbo but he did some wonderful work for cassavettes among others.

• Steven C

  
  I feel like I am doing disservice to the picture if I try to summarize John Cassavetes' "A Woman Under the Influence" into a blurb review. It's not that simple. There is so much going on here, so much detail, that simply picking out a couple things seems offensive… More
  I feel like I am doing disservice to the picture if I try to summarize John Cassavetes' "A Woman Under the Influence" into a blurb review. It's not that simple. There is so much going on here, so much detail, that simply picking out a couple things seems offensive to all the rest them. This is an incredible film that needs to be experienced by any true fan of the filmed artistic medium. One of Cassavetes' best films and a true testament to independent cinema and Cassavetes' collaboration with Gena Rowlands. Harrowing, funny, real, emotional and timeless, "A Woman Under the Influence" is a one of a kind experience.

• Anthony L

  
  Cassavetes's leaves the camera running longer than any other director to great effect. It makes for uncomfortable yet compelling viewing and doesn't mess around with the subject matter either, the door to mental illness is left open for all to see, warts and all. Probably… More
  Cassavetes's leaves the camera running longer than any other director to great effect. It makes for uncomfortable yet compelling viewing and doesn't mess around with the subject matter either, the door to mental illness is left open for all to see, warts and all. Probably Cassavetes's best, although not my favourite, with stunning performances from Rowlands and Falk. Classic American cinema at its best.

• Saskia D

  
  I was looking forward to a good cry, but I was a nervous wreck after finishing it. This movie is f***ing intense! Gena Rowlands won several awards for her performance as Mabel Longhetti for best actress, but I'm really curious who got the Oscar that year, because she should have… More
  I was looking forward to a good cry, but I was a nervous wreck after finishing it. This movie is f***ing intense! Gena Rowlands won several awards for her performance as Mabel Longhetti for best actress, but I'm really curious who got the Oscar that year, because she should have gotten it! I guess this movie is about madness. And I was confronted with my own perceptions and uncomfort with people who 'suffer' from 'psychiatric illness'. The scene that illustrated that the most is the one where she's waiting at the busstop for the school-bus to arrive, to pick up her kids. She's trying to get some people to tell her what time it is, but she scares them and you see her become increasingly agitated because they don't want to stop and tell her the time. I think this is one one of my favorite scenes because her body language, and the way she walks synchronize with the character she's playing. She totally convinced me there. After adding the trailer to Flixter and watching it a couple of times, I also have to comment on the outstanding performance of Peter Falk who plays Mabel Longhetti's husband Nick. The movie portrays the fascinating, beautiful and sometimes destructive relationship between the two. There are moments that you can't help but wonder which one of them is 'mad'. For me, Gena Rowlands' performance is definitely one of the most memorable in my movie-watching-history. <div style="width:500px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/a-woman-under-the-influence-a-woman-under-the-influence-12241152"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/12/24/11/12241152_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">

• Drew S

  
  Finals are over! I can actually watch movies again! This was a great induction back into the world of listless cinephilia, simply because I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like it. Gena Rowlands gives an impeccable performance, painting this woman with incredible… More
  Finals are over! I can actually watch movies again! This was a great induction back into the world of listless cinephilia, simply because I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like it. Gena Rowlands gives an impeccable performance, painting this woman with incredible depth. She doesn't run straight to crazy-person quirk, but instead illuminates the pain she's feeling from the world around her, giving us a solid reason why she would retreat into madness. The movie does an incredible job of reminding us how harsh and oppressive society can be, especially toward people who think or function differently. Some might take umbrage with the length, and at two and a half hours, it is a formidably depressing slog. I thought it was worth every second, though. How did John Cassavetes have such an utterly untalented son?

• El Hombre I

  
  This film seemed to rip my guts out. Gena Rowlands teetering into insanity is definitely one for the books and is forceful and disturbing. Free-formed filmmaking approach that depends on its' actors than a script or camera work. This film influenced other indie filmmakers to… More
  This film seemed to rip my guts out. Gena Rowlands teetering into insanity is definitely one for the books and is forceful and disturbing. Free-formed filmmaking approach that depends on its' actors than a script or camera work. This film influenced other indie filmmakers to do it themselves. Not necessarily for the casual filmgoer, you can decide if that's you. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=woman20coverpreview.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/woman20coverpreview.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Tim S

  
  Gena Rowlands gives one of the greatest performances of all time. This is my favorite Cassavettes' film.

• Michael G

  
  Very dry but also very good.

• Brian R

  
  This is one of John Cassavetes best films. Gena Rowlands gives a stunning performance as the housewife Mabel who isn't all who she's cracked up to be. Her husband Nick (Peter Faulk) is the agressive husband who admires her wife but wants her to stop acting so starnge and… More
  This is one of John Cassavetes best films. Gena Rowlands gives a stunning performance as the housewife Mabel who isn't all who she's cracked up to be. Her husband Nick (Peter Faulk) is the agressive husband who admires her wife but wants her to stop acting so starnge and unusual around his friends. "AWUTI" is a painful film to watch because, well haven't we all tried to please our significant other in a relationship? Cassavetes really took his film to another level. I really admired the akward party where Nick gives a speech and tells everyone they have to leave before his wife gets home from being released from a mental institution. There's another great scene where Mabel (Rowlands) makes spaghetti and tries to make friendly aquaintances with Nick's co-workers only she's viewed as akward and flawed, another akward scene is whene Nick and his friend steal the kids from school to spend a day on the beach. While going home, Nick offers his kids a sip of beer. Afer seeing that scene I cringed. It's films like these audiences will always remember and Cassavetes hits each scene perfectly on every note and it's never outdated. I'm sure this project must have been very personally for him since every scene, to me rings strong in my mind. Love may be complicated but it sure makes the small things in life unbreakable.

• Ivan D

  
  Great films like "Sunset Blvd." and "Psycho". They have both shown 'madness' in a way both disturbing and doomed, uncontrollably fatal and in brutal askew. Both pictures solidified the fact, with utter exclamatory conviction, that being in such a mental… More
  Great films like "Sunset Blvd." and "Psycho". They have both shown 'madness' in a way both disturbing and doomed, uncontrollably fatal and in brutal askew. Both pictures solidified the fact, with utter exclamatory conviction, that being in such a mental state is synonymous with being 'done for' and you can't really do anything but inhabit its very delirious core. And although the latter statement was still further raised by "A Woman Under the Influence", this film, directed with raw attention to the essence of the story and characters rather than the overall aesthetics by John Cassavetes, is a revolutionary break-out party (a bit hyperbolic, I must admit) to the hidden side of this seemingly over-used cinematic theme of psychosis: That madness can also serve as a familial balance. Peter Falk, which I have first seen playing himself in "Wings of Desire", delivered an unforgettable, emotionally powerful and quite underrated performance as the husband Nick. The character is a blue-collar worker striving to keep his family together, and by the sight of his sublimely pleading eyes, he means good for everyone. He immensely loves Mabel (Gena Rowlands), his wife, and his children even more so. But he is quite weary of Mabel and her slow drift into a self-losing basket case. His weariness is quite valid, after all, and with the help of the shaky camera utilized by Cassevetes that sometimes even goes out of focus, he has established Mabel's initial sequence as she, panting, exaggerated, and worried, assists her children as they go with their grandmother into her car to go to her house. "I shouldn't have let 'em go", uttered by Mabel. This sequence, although it shows her unusual redundancy, does not really highlight her insanity but shows her neurotic tendencies. As we see her repeat instructions, mostly about her children's well-being and safety, and fast talk her way to her mother's attention, Gena Rowlands depicts Mabel's personality with a slight slant of ambiguity: Does she really mean every word? "A Woman Under the Influence" is infused with such incredible sequences after another, mostly dominated by Ms. Rowlands' weird, pathetically disorienting glib of tongue. She wants to entertain Nick's friends. She immerses into childhood persona just to make children laugh. But ultimately, she is marked by sadness. Yes, she is mentally unstable, but did she ever wanted to be in such a condition? Then, in a tolling decision lifted by frustration and exhaustion on Nick's part, he sent her to a mental institution. He then tries to care for his children himself. But as shown by the significant sequence in the beach, shot within a considerable distance and with a point of view not leveled to an adequate position, the film showed Nick's incompetence as an affecting parent. Of course, he loves his children more than anything else, but with things that needs tenderness and detailed caring, he is gravely lacking. Through this sequence, not only was it suggested that Nick really misses his wife with her free-willing interaction with their kids, John Cassavetes, with his great characterization of Mabel, also made us audience miss her. Despite the deterioration of her mental health, as she left their house and was committed to an institution, she also left a hole in her family. For once we see, after her erratic mental episodes, her encompassing influence to Nick and their children. Her utility. Her vitality. After watching "A Woman Under the Influence", I thought that the film is really much more about the essential presence of a mother in a family rather than it is about the complexity of madness. Yes, beneath its sheer depiction of deafening attempts to control an insanity-inflicted individual and its uneasy portrayal of mental instability, it's centered in the significance of a caring matriarch. Mabel may be raving mad, she may shout senseless phrases and dance in the tune of the"Swan Lake" atop a couch, but her importance echoes throughout the four corners of their house all the same. And as suggestively shown in the final scene approached with a sense of suburban calm, Nick and Mabel will always stride to strive. And as they make their bed and close the curtains, they, after all that have transpired, are still in one piece. That is until something else do them part.

• MJS M

  
  I really do respect John Cassavetes, the way he basically invented the American independent film scene as we know it today is admirable. However, the three Cassavetes movies I?ve seen really haven?t done a lot for me. This one is probably the best of them as it has a pair of really… More
  I really do respect John Cassavetes, the way he basically invented the American independent film scene as we know it today is admirable. However, the three Cassavetes movies I?ve seen really haven?t done a lot for me. This one is probably the best of them as it has a pair of really strong performances, but the story itself didn?t really grab me, and at two and a half hours the whole thing just seemed too long. Really, I did respect the movie, I just didn?t much like it.

• matt s

  
  Gena Rowlands is the benchmark. From now on, I'm probably going to watch actresses with her in mind. She's that good in this great film. I loved how much of a see-saw her character and Peter Falk's relationship was. In fact, the first hour and a half is perfect. The… More
  Gena Rowlands is the benchmark. From now on, I'm probably going to watch actresses with her in mind. She's that good in this great film. I loved how much of a see-saw her character and Peter Falk's relationship was. In fact, the first hour and a half is perfect. The last hour loses steam, and the ending doesn't seem as strong, but I'm glad I bought this one. It's a great, and truly destined to become a favorite.

• Dimitris S

  
  Powerful direction,the emotional breakdown this woman suffers is visible but not a compelling fact so that we may sympathize her.She and he.The two mutual characteristics in which Cassavetes usually brings forth in his philosophy.Now I understand Godfather II is legendary but why this… More
  Powerful direction,the emotional breakdown this woman suffers is visible but not a compelling fact so that we may sympathize her.She and he.The two mutual characteristics in which Cassavetes usually brings forth in his philosophy.Now I understand Godfather II is legendary but why this movie was was left with zero Oscars?

• Emily B

  
  With every film I watch of his I love Cassavetes more, and this is defiantly the best of his I've seen so far. Gena Rowlands performance is amazing as the housewife and mother struggling with mental illness. But throughout the film it becomes clear that she is not the only one… More
  With every film I watch of his I love Cassavetes more, and this is defiantly the best of his I've seen so far. Gena Rowlands performance is amazing as the housewife and mother struggling with mental illness. But throughout the film it becomes clear that she is not the only one suffering from an illness. Nick, her husband also seems to be suffering, always get angry and occasionally violent. The couple are under the influence of each other, driving one another mad, yet when all is said and done all they can do is get on with life (the last scene especially).

• Leo L

  
  Good! Intriguing story plot.

• Linda K

  
  Absolutely adored this film. The performances were incredible. Gena Rowlands was marvelous as the wacko mother. Peter Falk is also amazing as the husband who never gives up on his wife. One of my personal best from Cassevetes.

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