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A Woman under the Influence

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From the liner notes

John Cassavetes' devastating drama details the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and her family's struggle to save her from herself. Starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands (in two of the most harrowing screen performances of the 1970s) as a married couple deeply in love yet unable to express that love in terms the other can understand, the film is an uncompromising portrait of domestic turmoil. The Criterion Collection is proud to present one of the benchmark films of American independent cinema: a heroic document from a true maverick director. Available for the first time as a stand-alone release, from the box set John Cassavetes: Five Films.

Review

The power of Cassavetes' films is that he strips away all the pretenses and protections we use to shield ourselves from our most frightening and shameful pain, and shoves our noses in it. Not too many actors can deliver that bare honesty; one of the few who does so without reservation is his wife Rowlands. She is mesmerizing as the working-class housewife who buckles under the strain of a limited existence, a brutish husband (Falk, in one of several strong collaborations with Cassavetes), insensitive relatives and an uncaring world. Rowlands is in turn heartbreaking, funny, delightful and frightening as a woman who is overwhelmed by a desperate inability to stay connected.