MOVIE MEMORIES
Film: John Cassavetes' "A Woman Under The Influence"
Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands in John Cassavetes'
1974 film "A Woman Under The Influence", which remains as powerful and complex
today as it did 35 years ago.
(Photo: Criterion Collection)
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com SHARE
February 18, 2009
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the October 3, 1989 passing of John
Cassavetes, American independent filmmaker extraordinaire. Mr. Cassavetes
had a vivid imagination and creativity exemplified in his filmmaking. John
Cassavetes' films possessed an intimacy, power, freedom and vitality unrivaled
in big screen American films ever since the heyday of his works of the 1960's
and '70's. With "A Woman Under The Influence", which has its 35th
anniversary of theatrical release this November, Mr. Cassavetes' writing is at
its most alive and wondrous as his wife and actress Gena Rowlands spectacularly
brings her character Mabel Longhetti to life in the film as a young wife and
mother trapped and yearning to breathe free and please everyone at great
sacrifice to herself.
Amazingly Ms. Rowlands' dialogue and acting, in one wrenching scene of power
that transfixes you, was a scene entirely scripted by Mr. Cassavetes, who was
nominated for Best Director for the film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. Ms. Rowlands was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.
Peter Falk stars in the 1974 film as Mabel's husband Nick, a working-stiff
struggling to understand and relate to his wife. Mr. Falk, better known to
many post-1960's moviegoers as television detective Frank Columbo, does the best
work of his career in "A Woman Under The Influence", as does Ms. Rowlands, who
reminds you of Ellen Barkin and "Eyes Wide Shut" actress Marie Richardson.
"A Woman Under The Influence" also stars Mr. Cassavetes' real-life mother
Katherine, who plays Nick's mother and Ms. Rowlands' real-life mother Lady, who
plays the mother of her character Mabel.
Mr. Cassavetes captured rawness and naturalism in such a naked way with
free-flowing camera movements, cultivating unpredictability with his performers
and editing, evoking all the authenticity of a home movie. Mr. Cassavetes
has influenced countless numbers of filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant, Martin
Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sean Penn, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, David
Lynch, Barry Levinson, Pedro Almodovar and so many others. Working outside
the Hollywood studio system Mr. Cassavetes was able to get the most out of
everything he did. Like fellow American director Stanley Kubrick he had a
small but memorable resume of about a dozen films, but just like Mr. Kubrick he
directed films that were unforgettable and now frequent in film repertories
today the world over.
It is definitely worth your while taking a look at John Cassavetes' films again,
most notably "Faces", "Shadows", "Husbands" (in which Mr. Cassavetes and Mr.
Falk starred), "Minnie & Moscowitz", "Opening Night", "Gloria" (with Ms.
Rowlands) and most especially "A Woman Under The Influence", an intimate
showcase of complexity and volatile human drama. Other than seeing this
great film on the big screen, you should spare two hours and 30 minutes to watch
the film in its special Criterion Collection DVD edition released during the
film's 30th anniversary in 2004.
One of the priceless moments of special features on the DVD is the nearly
hour-long audio conversation that Mr. Cassavetes had with Michel Ciment and
Michael Wilson in 1975, the year after the theatrical release of "Woman".
It's an interaction in eight parts revealing Mr. Cassavetes at his most
philosophical and contemplative. Refreshingly honest and
thought-provoking, in the conversation John Cassavetes displays some of the
trademarks of personality that informs his films. It's a treat to listen
to, as is the conversation that Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk have in Ms.
Rowlands' Los Angeles home in 2004, reflecting on their roles in "Woman Under
The Influence" and on Mr. Cassavetes, who died in 1989 from cirrhosis of the
liver due to excessive drinking. His last film was released in 1985.
John Cassavetes, himself an accomplished actor, talked of the push and pull
between actors and directors, and directors and the Hollywood studio system, and
there's a hint of his disdain for the latter, with the filmmaker's suggestion
that the business impedes on the craft of filmmaking in a destructive way,
although Mr. Cassavetes never explicitly says this, at least during the
interview with Mr. Ciment and Mr. Wilson. "A professional actor has a
tendency to disregard the realities of life . . . ". On the notion of
amateurs, he said in the audio section titled "Casting", "Anyone can do well in
a big part. And if you do well you'll have a bigger part . . . and you
won't have to worry about Peter or Gena. Just kill it."
Also in the dialogue the New York-born director defines two kinds of acting:
"The acting in professional acting in Hollywood . . . is to take a script and
make it work, and make it the best possible . . . and the other kind is a
creative interpretation . . . [to] make someone's life more clear, through
feeling or intelligence or comedy . . . and say that there's something like me
in that person . . . if you can't do that [acting] becomes something of a
faddish existence."
"I don't want to make the best film I can make. I want to make a film that
will please me," Mr. Cassavetes says during the final portion of the interview.
"A Woman Under The Influence" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of
America, with its scenes of emotional turmoil and rancor.
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