"Mabel, that's enough!!"
Three words: loud, chaotic and emotional.
"A Woman Under the Influence," (1974) is possibly John Cassavetes' (1929-1989) greatest film. As writer and director, this film earned him his third Oscar nomination - this time for Best Director - and a reputation as the most significant of American independent filmmakers.
"A Woman" stars Cassavetes' wife, Gena Rowlands, and his close friend Peter Falk. Cassavetes often wrote films based on his own emotional experiences, starring friends and family, his most frequent collaborators. The closeness of "A Woman" to his own life and marriage is hinted at by many factors, particularly the choice to cast his own mother, Katherine Cassavetes, and his wife's mother, Lady Rowlands, in the roles of the two main characters' mothers.
Cassavetes' "A Woman" effectively reveals the dysfunction of a married couple with completely opposite personalities, yet striking similarities (i.e., they are both nuts).
Falk successfully plays Nick, an aggressively controlling but simultaneously devoted husband. As Nick, Falk frequently compels the audience to change its feelings toward him, whether from favorable to disgusted or vice versa. Though seeming to be the stable one at the beginning of the movie, toward the end, his craziness is proved to be just as bad as, or maybe worse than, Mabel's. His character contributes much of the movie's loudness.
Likewise, Gena Rowlands' acting is truly amazing, as proved by her Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Her strange and twisted facial expressions, hand movements and abnormal sounds immediately affect the audience with resounding responses of "she's bonkers!" Rowlands visibly, mentally and emotionally becomes Mabel, housewife, nutcase and mother of three.
Though she fulfills the everyday duties of a wife and mother, we see her true, nutty self immediately. As the movie progresses, her husband's own unstable side is revealed as well. Nick, played by Falk, is a controlling, distant and quick-tempered husband and construction worker. Opposite Nick, Mabel comes off as imaginative, fragile, extroverted and impetuous.
These differences cause emotional, chaotic and not to mention loud domestic dramas between not only the couple but also everyone involved in their lives. Falk and Rowlands successfully display love and madness at full force.
The couple lives a life without privacy. There is virtually no distinction between the words private and public in this movie. Instead of having a bedroom, the couple sleeps on a sofa bed in their dining room, and on their bathroom door hangs a sign saying "Private." They struggle to find time alone with each other, while others discuss their problems and business. When confronted with his wife's mental breakdown, Nick goes so far as to yell at his coworker, "Don't discuss my affairs!"
The roles of the three children and the parents are also awkwardly reversed. The children comfort Mabel and constantly check up on their mother's well being. During one of the couple's loud and chaotic arguments, all three children hold back their father from hitting Mabel. Though raised by "crazy" parents, the kids are surprisingly the sane, mature ones. The acting done by the kids is impressive and convincing. One scene shows the kids sipping constantly from Nick's beer; the child actors believably convince viewers that they actually are drunk.
Though Nick and Mabel's time together almost always ends up in dramatic conflicts, their relationship works. Despite personality clashes, their madnesses fit. Throughout "Influence," their love for each other prevails.
Toward the end of the film, there seems to be no hope for a resolution, but the idea stands that life goes on whether one can change or not.
Gena Rowlands will introduce "A Woman Under the Influence" alongside well-known Cassavetes scholar Ray Carney as part of the festival.
The screening takes place at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Regal Downtown Cinema.
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