Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Jonathan C An Unmarried Woman is a story from a particular time and place, and its virtue is that it captures that time and place very well. Jill Clayburgh plays Erica, an upper-middle class woman on New York's upper east side who is happily married, has a precocious daughter, an engaging job in an art gallery, and a seemingly happy and tranquil life. Suddenly one day her husband Martin, played by Michael Murphy, is walking down the street with her and breaks down in tears, announcing to her that he has fallen in love with another woman. For the audience, this scene is not a big surprise, since, after all, one probably knows the premise of the movie before one goes in. For Erica, however, it is a shock, and for all of the women who have had this scene played out for them in real life, it is an iconic moment of filmmaking, as we watch Erica stagger away and vomit into a garbage can.Like most moments in An Unmarried Woman, this one is not overdone, and it brings up the central virtue of the picture--it is real. Erica goes through a number of experiences on a general arc toward independence for herself--a date with a guy who is too forward, a one-night stand with an appealing co-worker, some therapy sessions to help her right the ship, and finally a new relationship. The movie takes place amidst the huge spike in divorce after the passage of no-fault divorce laws in the early 70s, and is really a time capsule toward the era where anxiety over divorce hit an all-time high. Paul Mazursky's screenplay is meticulously written, and Clayburgh is spot-on as the unmarried woman, trying from scene to scene to find her identity amidst personal and social chaos.There are some people who might say that it seems a bit gratuitous to feel sorry for Erica, given her charmed life even after the divorce; she seems, for example, to have no money problems, she keeps her awesome apartment, has great support from her friends. However, one should make no mistake that what happened to her was a crushing blow, and her struggle to find herself is very real. Clayburgh makes her character sympathetic by finding both the genuine profound sadness in the situation and the corresponding strength inside the character that she plays. The movie is rightly called a feminist movie because of Erica's transformation within a particular social current, but it is also simply a movie about a decent, likable person who took a blow and showed courage in recovering from it. In the end, the movie is both good drama and an important document of the times. Want to know about divorce anxiety in the 70s? This is your movie. Want to be touched by a woman finding her whole self? This is also your movie.

kenjha A woman finds herself suddenly single after 16 years of marriage when her husband leaves her for a woman he met at Bloomingdale's. The film made Clayburgh into a star and deservedly so. She is simply marvelous as the woman whose secure world is shattered. Murphy is excellent as her weak-willed husband. Bates's character is not well developed, nor is the relationship between him and Clayburgh. In fact, the film works best before he enters the picture, as it focuses on Clayburgh's relationship with her daughter and friends. Mazursky's script incisively explores sexuality and his lively direction makes the film seem fresh even decades later.

edwagreen Jill Clayburgh gives an off-the-wall performance in this 1978 film dealing with a woman who must confront the fact that her husband has walked out on her. After seemingly having the perfectly married life with a precocious daughter, Clayburgh is forced to re-enter life in a time of sexual revolution in America.Michael Murphy is superb as her husband who walks out on her, and there is fine support from Cliff Gorman, the guy who knows the score and Alan Bates, who steals the film as Saul Kaplan, the rebel artist who got his inspiration for expressionism when his mother threw a pickled herring at his father! The film, before the entrance of Bates, depicts men as overly obsessive sex fiends who will go to any length to make a conquest. While the Kaplan figure goes from that description, Clayburgh suddenly becomes an independent woman.Penelope Russianoff, who had a Ph.D in psychology in real life, portrays the therapist that Clayburgh goes to when Murphy walks out. For a non-actress, she is perfect for the part since she is in every sense of meaning, a true therapist.Finding fault with a basically good film that should have been better may be shown by the inconsistencird of the Clayburgh performance. Her Jewish-American attributes at the beginning get a rude awakening when Murphy walks out. Yet, she goes through a period of shock and desire to cling to something only to boldly claim her independence as a woman.The ending of the film is a definite disappointment. Erica (Clayburgh) again proves that as a scorned woman, she hesitates to re-enter life and will, if anything, be subordinate to it.

MarieGabrielle who claims we are in a "man's world"- you should see this film- and realize how dated that comment is. This film was made in the late 1970's, and our society would hopefully be more advanced than it was then. At that time, divorce was taboo. People stayed together for "the sake of the children". Like Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm", people saw American suburbia unraveling, despite how many vacations they took, or how many cars they bought and extensions they built on their McMansions.Jill Clayburgh is good; and the therapist, Tanya Brickell, actually received a reprimand from the NYC Psychoanalytic Society for acting the role of a therapist. I remember when this film came out, people were "appalled"... . It seems the idea of divorce was considered revolutionary. Some of the dialog is a bit hard-boiled, like when Clayburgh tells Michael Murphy (Martin) that she was ..."his hooker, by way of Vassar"... then he comments that her therapy has done wonders for her self-esteem. Also, we see him at his job as stockbroker, where he seems quite bored, the mid-life crisis issue which up to this time, was scarcely addressed in film. Overall, this is a realistic film which shows divorce as not a placebo, but the sad choice two people have to make, in order to survive. 9/10