Review of A Woman Under the Influence (1974) by Belinda M — 15 Sep 2012

This was a highly entertaining movie. As a person who grew up in the 70s, I was most entertained by all the 70-isms in the movie. 70-isms are things that were commonplace in the 70s that would be frowned upon today. I'll list the ones I remember:

The kids had to be reminded to put on shoes before they left with their grandmother. There was no hint of a car seat in granny's car. Nobody had on seat belts. The little girl had on a short dress and in every single scene she appeared in, her underwear were showing. At one point, she is running around the house naked and they show everything. This kid did a nude scene. In modern days, thanks to pedophiles, we would call that kiddie porn.

Peter Falk's character refers to one of his black workers as a monkey behind his back. That may not be a 70-ism. The way everyone interacts at the dinner and at the party had a very 70's flow. One of the work crew playfully slaps PF's wife on the behind at the dinner. One of PF's friend's wives tongue kissed him just because at the party.

PF's character had not visited his wife in the mental hospital even though she was there for months. You know this because he was surprised by her condition when she came home. She has a mental breakdown and he smacks her. This is a 70ism because there was rampant ignorance about mental illness in the 70s. People did not know what to do around someone who was mentally ill. In the beginning of the movie, she tells her husband she will become who he wants her to be. This is not a common thing in the 21st century.

I had a few problems with the film. Some of the scenes went on too long. I found myself thinking, ok, I get it, she's weird, next scene please. Her symptoms seemed to be a mish mosh of multiple mental illnesses. At first I thought they were going for bipolar, then she had dementia, then she was dancing in the street playing chicken with the cars. The ending was creepy. My feeling was that she was not gonna make it through the night.