Review of An Unmarried Woman (1978) by I Don't Know W — 21 Jul 2011

An Unmarried Woman, Great Movies.

I wonder where these kind of movies would go in these days or in the next few years. This film is a classic, and we would never know that there is a movie called "An Unmaried Woman", so it's one of those underrated gem with such purity and elegance that doesnt make your head spin and go everywhere, it stays on one character, one plot, and one lesson, this is one of the best films of 1978, or I should say, the best film about in and out of marriage life, as seen in the eyes of Erika, played by Jill Clayburgh, who recently just passed away, and that's also the reason why I watch this film as also being unprepared.

Well, why is it on my great movies list? I always think to myself, if you want to make a movie without any idea yet, then think of something you may find it useful and rather important to most people out there. And indeed, if you want to spend a little money for your movie, then don't use any extras or any special effects, this movie is like coming from the real experiences of these actors on their real life. It's basically, about this woman Erika, who has everything, has a steady job, good family, until her husband Martin, said to her, "I am seeing another woman for a year", and Erika just walks out and goes crazy, and she hates him now. She and her daughter Patty, must know how to live without the husband and the father. She cooks, she hangs out with friends, she sees a therapist, she also sees some few men, and of course, we know she is sad, depressed, and lonely, and the "Unmarried" in the title refers to being an example of a woman's life without someone taking care of her, not from friends or to the daughter, but from a man. I watched too many movies not learning something at the end, even though the ending was to expect more scene, I still found something important to this Erika character, she is always confident to herself, and even the husband says he's sorry, she never listens to him, and remember, Patty is like a younger Erika, she is a virgin so does her mom, and I guess they're no happy with some guys out there. The more that I get to see a scene so detailed and so remarkable, I think it captures the beauty of this picture that puts it into a non-boring situation. You know the performances are great, as I said these characters are like playing on a role once they had already encountered. The direction seems to not slipped as it knows where it's going, and knows what would be the next scene that we might or might not know. And all in all, if I said the word great many times in a review like this, then it is for sure truly a great movie.

I think this film would be a lesson to who, to many women out there who is never happy on a long marriage, and probably a lesson to some filmmakers these days, to know what is a right film to do, not sequels, not prequels, not remakes, not reboots, and not something based on a novel. I truly appreciate the gem and quality of this film, and I'm sad to say that this is I think Jill best and most famous film ever. And you can forget about those blockbuster box-office films, this one is different, it is unforeseen, and yet it doesn't need what some box-office hit films need, it is what it is, this is one of the best films of what, 1977 or 1978, I'm not sure?