A Woman Under the Influence

"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.

A woman under the influance was a above solid movie with some subject that is hard to put on screen and to show it in a realistic way ,i think that subject of mental illness was very good shown either through some very good written dialogue or either through gena rowlands great acting and at scenes were she starts to break and show her psyhic problems it was shown and acted in very realistic way,peter falk was good to and even if his supported his wife we also seen that he also has some different kind of problems in his life,either through family issuses or through his own breaking under presure and how even if we dont suffer of some illness we can still share pain with people who have it

This is my first John Cassavetes movie. Over 40 years after it's debut, the film making holds up. The acting and direction is well done. The plot is interesting. I couldn't rate it higher because it was a failure of editing. This 2-1/2 hour movie really should have been a 90 minute movie. The extraneous scenes and the length of many scenes ultimately made the film almost intolerable to watch. Even so, this was clearly innovative for its time, so I give it due respect.

The best scene is Mabel preparing and serving dinner to all of Nick's fellow workers. We see how she deals with human situations, we see Nick's discomfort of his wife's over-playfulness (in his opinion). His shut-down of her is brutal--her response is heartbreaking. The way this scene ends is touching. The problem is Cassavetes adds too many unnecessary scenes. It drags on with added characters that didn't need to be added. Gena and Pete are great in this, so the movie should be more focused on them.

Sometimes you have to be thankful to Criterion Collection for their love of movies and how they bring them back to our attention. This is another one of those examples. While Kramer vs. Kramer is (rightfully) hailed as a great movie, this does not seem to come up as often when it comes to marriage and issues within that marriage than can occur. Geena Rowlands is just mesmerizing in this. But Peter Falk holds his own. I and many others may know him for Columbo (great role), but he shines in this one too. So while the focus lies on Geena, there are quite a few actors who support her and the movie overall. I can't stress enough how amazing the end result is, even if you have to stick with the movie and be patient at times. Nothing can beat the patience Peter Falk is displaying of course, or rather his character. This tour de force is quite something. It will drain and exhaust you, by the end of it