150 Word Review: 'A Woman Under The Influence' (1974)

Class acting

Photo: Faces Distribution

Director and writer John Cassavetes’ indie classic A Woman Under the Influence is a disciplined and improvisational portrait of a working-class married couple who self-destruct in real-time.

Gena Rowlands, Cassevetes' wife, and Peter Falk, his friend, are the main characters—spouses on fire—and these two gifted actors give once-in-a-generation performances. Rowlands is heartbreaking and unpredictable, as a lonely woman slowly disintegrating, a wife and mother struggling with mental illness, both hers and his. She drinks, cheats, and drowns. They fight like Zeus and Hera, raining thunderbolts down on their family.

The movie doesn't work without Falk as a lovable construction worker who is also abusive and unpredictable. He's gentle until a switch is flipped, and he's suddenly dangerous. There's a uniquely harrowing scene where Falk's character slowly gets his children drunk on beer because he doesn't know how to be a father. And yet, she's the one institutionalized for six months.

---