Review of A Woman Under the Influence (1974) by Edgar C — 29 Aug 2011
...under the influence of a brainwashed, elitist world that forcedly stamps upon your soul what is right and what is wrong, what is morally correct and what isn't.
Honestly speaking, there is no trouble in enjoying a daring cult horror masterpiece like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or in watching a spectacular and elaborate re-imagining of the gangster genre like The Godfather: Part II, but Cassavetes' drastically superior masterpiece is, metaphorically speaking, able to scratch the realism that each and every one of our pores feel and breathe. Some movies are not meant for all audiences because of their experimental, avant-garde nature or their difficult narrative structure, but this is a special case.
Gena Rowlands' pitch-perfect and accurate performance gives the impression to modern watchers that she is portraying daring cases of madness or insanity. That's, of course, the simplest and easiest psychological definition they can assign to such behavior when they are not familiar with it. Cassavetes perhaps even knows this; that is why he also made sure to shot the movie as a tense feature. What makes A Woman Under the Influence a daring feature for some audiences to show or even to appreciate is how much wisdom it displays. The tiniest aspects of social relationships and family life are mirrored in their most explicit detail. Those who may have an adventurous and even pop-influenced life like the characters shown in Shadows (1959) or in any Godard or Truffaut picture will simply leave this absolutely unnoticed, thus being caught in a monotone representation of daily life in an orgy of activities and visits they look forward the most to avoid. It is the themes it touches and deals with the ones that are much more important than anything else:
- Monotony on life and its effects on inconformism.
- Incapacity of people to deal with difficult situations and naturally act on a possessive way, thus revealing our impulsive nature.
- The chaotic consequences of authoritarian intervention of relatives in an unstable marriage.
- The implications of the childrens' magical irrationality and their extraordinary capacity to shape the worst situations, but being inevitably struck by actions of grown-ups that they perceive as scary and dangerous.
That's just the beginning; I could write a book about this film.
99/100.
This review of A Woman Under the Influence (1974) was written by Edgar C on 29 Aug 2011.
A Woman Under the Influence has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
