Review of A Woman Under the Influence (1974) by Clarissa C — 20 Jul 2008

A Woman Under the Influence might be the most difficult film made by John Cassavetes. Cassavetes's films can be intimidating in the way that a painting can be intimidating. Many people see a painting and their first inclination is a mental scramble to figure out what it means, what it's saying, when one is rarely such an acute piece of work. It's because there is some intangible sandwich board on something like a painting or a Cassavetes film, not that they are anything alike, that reads, "art." But whether it is or it isn't art, art isn't necessarily a work that culminates to a statement. However, there is always something that is being expressed or observed.

In A Woman Under the Influence, the beautiful Gena Rowlands, a beautifully endearing performance, plays someone whose behavior is very unorthodox, very nervous, possibly not coming naturally out of her impulses, but who is to say that she's crazy? I don't believe the film is about a woman going mad. I believe it's about a woman whose friends and family think she's going mad. Peter Falk's genuinely delivered bossy, obstinate husband reacts to and handles Rowlands's behavior in very unorthodox and nervous ways himself. He doesn't understand his wife. The film is a reflection of human misunderstanding in society. Do we take the time to understand people? Do we even care to differentiate between two different personalities? Many of us do not.

Cassavetes's film personifies its themes by having the same effect on us that's endured by its characters. There are some scenes where we don't really understand why anybody's doing anything they're doing. Everything sometimes seems like people are firing off impulses and creating chaos. So we try to understand, only to feel as dumbfounded as its characters. The film doesn't mean to boggle us, but to indent our perspective and adjust to its own looking glass. What I admire about this film is that it has taken me months to figure out.