AGFA August: A Woman Under the Influence
August 29, 2024
Played by the legendary Gena Rowlands, a housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown is committed for psychiatric treatment by her loving yet confused husband, with unpredictable results. John Cassavetes’ 1974 masterpiece is one of the most devastating portraits of a relationship ever filmed.
Nominated for multiple Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes (and taking home her share of wins), Gena Rowlands is a legend forever. Charting Rowlands’s transformation as “Mabel” from endearingly kooky to bleakly incoherent (and back again), John Cassavetes's A Woman Under the Influence is perhaps the most important examination of mental health ever captured onscreen. Cassavetes observes the ricochets between Mabel’s health and her in-laws’s “influence." But at the heart of this film is her relationship with her conservative husband (an equally amazing Peter Falk), who struggles in vain to pull Mabel out of her decline. Both tough-as-bricks and delicate, A Woman Under the Influence goes straight for the throat.
- Director: John Cassavetes
- Principal Cast: Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands
- Country: USA
- Year: 1974
- Running Time: 155 min.
- Producer: Sam Shaw
- Screenplay: John Cassavetes
- Cinematographers: Caleb Deschanel
- Editors: David Armstrong, Sheila Viseltear
- Music: Bo Harwood
- Awards: Golden Globes 1975 (Best Actress)
- Filmography: Big Trouble (1986), Love Streams (1984), Gloria (1980), Opening Night (1977) The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Husbands (1970), Faces (1968), A Child Is Waiting (1963), Too Late Blues (1961), Shadows (1959)
- Language: English