Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

GazerRise Fantastic!

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

proud_luddite In a Los Angeles suburb, Mabel (Gena Rowlands) is a stay-at-home Mom married to Nick (Peter Falk) who works in construction and has good friendships with his colleagues. During the film, Mabel shows signs of mental instability that eventually lead to a breakdown.If one word could be used to describe this film, it would be "raw". It is broken into three sections: Mabel's reaction when weekend plans with Nick are thwarted; the breakdown scene; and a return from the mental hospital. In all scenes, superbly directed by John Cassavetes, the ensemble acting is brilliant.Rowlands is perfect as the central character. Whether her mental illness is in remission or she is dangerously unstable, she is always believable in a very difficult role. What is equally amazing is the reaction of others to her troubled ways whether they be immediate family, extended family, friends, or strangers. Their awkwardness and discomfort are so real that such scenes can potentially remind one of similar incidents in one's own past.Rowlands' greatness is met by Falk whose character, like others, also lose stability in reaction to Mabel's condition. Katherine Cassavetes as Nick's mother, also gives a praiseworthy performance.This is one of those special films that could generate much discussion and thought afterward. One possible question is whether Nick is the mentally unstable one (aided by his mother) causing Mabel to fall apart. It was also ahead of its time with its depiction of mental illness and the collective response of "the elephant in the living room".It may seem long at two and a half hours but for those willing to see it to the end, the reward is plentiful.OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Directing by John Cassavetes

jodyfranz I watched this because it was on a best movies on Netflix. I was really surprised by how engrossing this movie was. The acting was fantastic.It is a look into a family's life torn apart because the mom/wife is suffering from ... insanity... manic depression? Something... and a husbands desperation to keep it/himself/the family together. You really feel like you are in the movie with these people and at times it makes for very akward watching. Spoiler but not really - there is a scene where there are a whole bunch of guests eating dinner at the main character's house and the woman is getting a little to weird for the husband and he yells at her to sit the hell down and there is dead silence and akward shifting in chairs. Ugh it made me feel so uncomfortable I couldn't stop watching!!!

Gideon24 The late John Cassavetes and his wife, Gena Rowlands were able to carve an impressive niche into cinema history while Cassavetes was still alive, but the zenith of their work together had to be the 1974 film A Woman Under the Influence an explosive and blistering look at mental illness from a perspective that has been rarely explored on screen.Most films dealing with characters with mental issues take place after the diagnosis has been made and the character is either in therapy or has been committed. This film takes a different tack as we meet Mabel, a suburban housewife and mother of 3 played by Rowlands, whose mental issues initially appear to be something as simple as bipolar personality, something that can be dealt with via medication, but it is clear as we see Mabel interact in various social situations, that there are serious mental issues going on here, but for some reason, no one really wants to talk about it. Her husband Nick (Peter Falk) knows there is something wrong, but is still harboring a great deal of denial about it, despite the fact that he absolutely blows up at anyone else even hinting at the fact that there is something wrong with Mabel. There are moments where we see Nick punishing Mabel for behavior she doesn't know how to control for the sake of his own denial and it is heartbreaking to watch. It is also heartbreaking that Mabel is unsure of what's going on but gauges everything through her children....as long as her children love her, she doesn't care what anyone else says. This film is such a troubling watch because we want Mabel to get help and we see the people in her orbit walking on eggshells around her instead of telling her what she needs to hear. It is almost 2/3 of the way into the film before Mabel is actually committed and even sadder is the fact that when she's released, she really doesn't seem any better.Gena Rowlands delivers the most powerful performance of her career as Mabel, a master class in acting that won her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Rowlands is gutsy and unhinged and absolutely riveting in a role that would be any actress' dream. Mabel is warm and sad and frightening. The scenes where she tries to fight Nick's decision to commit her and her eyes literally roll in the back of her head and the scene where she's in the street screaming at strangers in an effort to find out what time it is because she has to meet her kids' school bus are absolutely devastating. The school bus scene is especially powerful because Mabel appears so mentally shredded you're convinced that she isn't even in the right place to meet the bus and you're surprised when the bus actually shows up. Rowlands so completely commands the screen with this performance that during the 30-45 minutes when her character is not screen (when Mabel has been committed), the film comes to a screeching halt.Peter Falk is explosive in an almost Brando-esque turn as Nick, a husband who is at a loss how to help the woman he loves more than life. Falk has rarely been so powerful on screen and mention should also be made of the director's mother, Katherine Cassavetes, who plays Nick's mother.A once in a lifetime cinematic experience thanks to evocative, in-your- face direction, a pair of devastating lead performances, and a story that leaves you with hope and wonder about what happens after the credits roll.

lasttimeisaw Fresh to Cassavetes' canon, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE is tiresome and exhausting for my first-time viewing, throughout the entire running time (155 minutes), we watch a series of intense clashes between Mabel (Gena Rowlands) and Nick (Peter Falk), sometimes catalyzed by their family members or close friends, and the repercussions includes Mabel exacerbates her mental disability and the collateral damage to their 3 young children. Using intimate and irregular camera-work to demonstrate a fly-on-the-wall authenticity opens a maximum door for thespians to show off their superlative working-class liberation of feelings and emotion, Gena Rowlands, immerses into her character with optimum dexterity, from her quirks of sputtering and word-mouthing, the fervid and persistent advocacy of opera aria to the time-bomb of her squeamish frailty, we never know when will she explode, whilst time is ticking and the wait is taxing both for the players and the spectators. She also shines in her warmer facet during the heartwarming episodes with her kids. Mabel is a dream role any actress would be ever craving for, Rowlands is the performer nonpareil for her concentrated and committed dedication of embodiment without falling into the pitfall of borderline OTT. Falk, a flawless pick for an ordinary blue-collar, bedeviled by his wife's unhinged nature and stumped by the futile and consuming communication, improperly catches the worst moment to throw a surprise party for Mabel, his quandary could be easier to be related by the audiences, besides, his trademark out-of-focus eyes betray his frustration and it is certainly the situation is at his wits' end. This tiny budgeted film is a family workshop, kinfolks and friends constitutes the cast, e.g. both Cassavete's mother Katherine and Rowlands' mother Lady plays the in-laws in the film. Overall the film is a challenging project which unflinchingly debunks the underbelly of the marital bond, "till death us do apart" is so harrowing to listen under this circumstance. During the conjugal tug-of-war, Cassavetes pluckily interposes their children into the game, at the eleventh hour, it is the kids' relentless endeavor thaws the edginess induced by the heavy volley of laborious squabbles. Finally I must bellyache about the befuddling time-line, when Mabel brings a stranger to her house at night, it is the next morning Nick and his workmates come back from working, they have an unpleasant midday dinner, then it is the morning after Mabel's mother brings the children to home before school, right? Then how come later Nick's mother accusing Mabel for adultery at "last night"? Help me out here, it does bugs me, otherwise it is an indeed unique film of its own kind, although it doesn't gratify my satisfaction thanks to the frivolous and dreary altercations, I am always coveting for a bit more from the story plainly extracted from the lifelike experience, other than accentuates the tedious and irksome sensory overkill, it would be nicer if a sensible approach could lead us to a palliative nostrum to set our cerebral phase back to a normal state.