Review of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) by Octavian — 22 Mar 2014

An ode to the women's pictures that plagued the 1940s, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is Martin Scorsese's only woman centered film, and the result is unlike anything he's ever done. Shot in between "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver", "Alice" may not have the grungy, slick stylings of the two but it makes up for it with naturalistic drama that stirs our emotions in an authentic way.

The titular Alice (Ellen Burstyn) is 35, is living in domestic tranquility (minus the tranquility), is married to a perpetually moody man, is bored with her life, and is ready to give her smartass son, Tommy (Alfred Lutter), better opportunity. When her husband suddenly is killed in a car accident, she seizes the opportunity, packs up, and hits the road.

Alice lands a job as a lounge singer in a small town, but after a bad experience with an abusive boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) only a short time after she settles, she flees with Tommy to Tuscon. There, she becomes a waitress, gets a new love interest (Kris Kristofferson), but begins to wonder if she's ready to become a housewife again.

The opening sequence of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" plays out like a bizarro "Wizard of Oz", sepia soaked, Hollywood-tinged, and dreamy. The prologued scene shows Alice as a child, in a Dorothy like state, skipping down to the farmhouse where her mother calls for her. In this sequence alone, we can tell that Alice is no Dorothy - she's more of a Bette Davis type, if you can call a little girl a "Bette Davis type".

When the opening ends 20 years later, we're right. Alice may not have the nerve to stand up to her husband in his most bitter moments, but she has a good sense of humor and a self-awareness that sometimes scares her. Burstyn is the kind of actress that gives Alice the three-dimensional shape she needs: while she's often times full of sharp wit, she's also deeply vulnerable, not satisfied with her life but too afraid to admit it.

"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is a wonderful portrait of a woman, and one would never expect that Martin Scorsese, king of epically proportioned gangster dramas, could be so well-abled to direct something with such subtle care. There are moments of violence - Harvey Keitel's small role is absolutely terrifying - but the majority of the film shows Alice trying to pick her life up after having such a tragedy hit. Some moments are melancholy, but others are humorous.

Alice's conversations with her son are filled with sensational dialogue, making the mother-son bond refreshingly real while at times frustrating, and Alice's coworker Flo (Diane Ladd), who is shown later in the film, has wit so sharp that it could make anyone fall over. But the quiet mixes of laughs and drama give the film the balance it needs. It's trying to portray an ordinary life and, after all, ordinary lives are filled with drama and laughs.

Most might associate Scorsese with his big pictures - who can truly watch at "Raging Bull" and forget about it - but "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is just as important. It shows that he was a director that had a passion so great, that no matter the story, he put his heart and soul into it and completely made it his own. No wonder he's such a legend.