A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
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A Woman Under the Influence Movie Review
A Woman Under the Influence is a 1974 independent drama film directed by John Cassavetes and starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands. It is a solid, but highly flawed movie.
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“Mabel is not crazy, she’s unusual.
She’s not crazy so don’t say she’s crazy“
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The film is about a woman who after she has been showing strange behavior around other people gets submitted to the hospital by her husband. The film is thus one of the rare of its time to deal with mental illness and what effects it can have on a family.
I love this story as it is powerful and very emotional. The film thankfully portrays realistically its situation and from both sides. It isn’t sexist in its portrayal of women at all but the opposite which is refreshing for its time. I loved the ending and those conversations between the two are the highlights here.
Gena Rowlands truly did give an Oscar-worthy performance and she entirely deserved her nomination. She is excellent in a very complex, difficult to play role. But Peter Falk is also very strong in his role and very memorable and charismatic. The two are excellent and the film almost did not need the other characters in my opinion.
So A Woman Under the Influence has terrific storytelling, high emotional intensity and fantastic performances, but why is it than only a 3.5 movie for me? Well, because of the runtime in short. But let me explain. The film is way too long as it clocks in at about two and a half hours and thus it is too extended.
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This is an indie drama with a pretty simple albeit powerful story. Why then would John Cassavetes extend it into a two and half hour film is beyond me. The film pads, drags and is filled with countless boring little scenes that just buy time and are unimportant to the overall story and point of the film. There are basically around five important scenes to be had here and others are all filler. That is why his direction is very weak and problematic and he did not deserve an Oscar nomination at all in this instance.
A Woman Under the Influence definitely has a powerful, emotionally resonant story and fantastic performances from its talented cast, but the film is ridiculously long at two and half hours and thus it is overly prolonged and dull with its impact being blunted. It has five important scenes and the rest is basically filler.
