A Woman Under the Influence

1974

Action / Drama / Romance

60
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 86% · 37 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 91% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.0/10 10 31908 31.9K

mental breakdown unfaithfulness los angeles, california tense criterion ambivalent

Please enable your VPΝ when downloading torrents

If you torrent without a VPΝ, your ISP can see that you're torrenting and may throttle your connection and get fined by legal action!

Get Surf VPΝ

Plot summary

Mabel Longhetti, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially in the company of others, she craves happiness, but her extremely volatile behavior convinces Nick that she poses a danger to their family and decides to commit her to an institution for six months. Alone with a trio of kids to raise on his own, he awaits her return, which holds more than a few surprises.

Director

John Cassavetes Photo
John Cassavetes

Top cast

Frank Richards Photo
Frank Richards as Adolph
Peter Falk Photo
Peter Falk as Nick Longhetti
Gena Rowlands Photo
Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti
Cliff Carnell Photo
Cliff Carnell as Aldo
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.02 GB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
2 hr 35 min
Seeds 11
2.2 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
2 hr 35 min
Seeds 39

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gbill-74877 9 / 10

Brilliant

"Dad ... will you stand up for me?"Oh my goodness, Gena Rowland in this. She's brilliant. Peter Falk too. I love how Cassavetes just immersed us into their lives and let us gradually understand their issues through their behavior, instead of explaining everything in that tidy way of conventional Hollywood. We see Rowland's character acting awkwardly, oblivious to social cues, or dissociating from reality entirely, but we also see a caring person being crushed by pressure, and cowed by her husband. We see Falk's character being patient and understanding of his wife's idiosyncrasies, and we also see him prone to violent outbursts, and piss-poor parenting. He regularly defaults to trying to yell and force things, like when he bellows "We're having a good time!" after dragging his kids and a co-worker out to a beach. The kids' instinctive reaction to what's going around them is heartbreaking, like when the adorable little girl runs to the other man on the beach, or they all try to protect their mom after she's been released from the mental hospital.What's remarkable is that none of these characters has been transformed over the course of the story, though the viewer might be in some small way, after having witnessed such powerful performances of vulnerable, flawed characters. What an interesting title too. What is Rowlands' character under the influence of? Not alcohol, as the opening scene might suggest. A condition that threatens her sanity? Her domineering husband? The pressures of society to be a good wife and mother? How telling is that early on she says to her husband "Tell me what you want me to - how you want me to be," and that late in the film he tries to command her by saying "Be yourself!" when it seems that when she is being herself, she isn't accepted as "normal" by her husband or his co-workers. Meanwhile, the husband's erratic, dangerous behavior is par for the course, unquestioned, and certainly not about to be shipped off for ECT. There is thus a certain feminism at the bottom of this film which is fascinating, in light of such an unlikely protagonist.
Reviewed by

Reviewed by frankde-jong 7 / 10

John Cassavetes most famous film

"A woman under the influence" is about a woman (Gena Rowlands) constantly on the edge (and sometimes over the edge) of a nervous breakdown. We immediately realise that something is wrong with her when, at the beginning of the film, she shouts to her mother not to shout.

At first the plan was to make "A woman under the influence" a play, but Gena Rowlands realised that she would not have the energy to play this role every evening. After seeing the film we can only agree with her.

Many reviews observe that the man (Peter Falk) is psychologically just unstable as the woman is. I don't agree with that. As well as after watching "Prejudice" (2015, Antoine Cuypers) i realised how demanding it must be to live with such a patient. Even a sane person can, in such circumstances , not always keep is composure.

Yes, the man does stupid things (such as organising a big party when his wife returns from a stay in a mental institution), but that does not mean that he is a patient himself.

Read more IMDb reviews

8 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment