Underplayed Gems

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

A Woman Under the Influence poster
Directed by
John Cassavetes
Genre
drama film, art film
Country
United States
Runtime
2h 35m
Rated
R
Rating
7.8 of 10 from 563 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A housewife's unusual behavior creates tension with her blue-collar husband and family. The film uses a highly naturalistic style to show the conflict and emotional strain within this working-class family.

rawintimateemotionally intensenaturalisticunsettlinguncomfortablevisceralmelancholic

What happens

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. The film was Cassavetes' seventh as director, and was produced and distributed independently of major studios like most of his other films. The movie exhibits a highly naturalistic style in acting and camerawork compared to most Hollywood films from the era. It premiered at the 1974 New York Film Festival, before going into wide theatrical release on November 18, 1974. It received two Academy Award nominations: for Best Director and Best Actress (for Rowlands). Rowlands won a Golden Globe Award and National Board of Review Award for her performance. Since its release, the film has been regarded as Cassavetes' magnum opus, with Rowlands' performance often being cited as one of the best of all time. 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", being one of the first fifty films to be listed. The film featured in Sight and Sound's 2012 list of the greatest films of all time on both critics and directors polls. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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