Cinema
A Woman Under the Influence
John Cassavetes · 1974
Synopsis
Los Angeles. Nick Longhetti, foreman of a municipal construction crew, cancels the evening planned with his wife Mabel: a water main has burst and the crew is working all night. Mabel has left their three children with her mother. Alone, she drinks in a bar and goes home with a stranger. The next morning, Nick arrives with his whole crew and Mabel serves spaghetti to everyone; her behaviour worries those around her, and Nick does not know how to cope with it.
Context
The director mortgaged his house and Falk contributed about half of the one-million-dollar budget; the crew, made up mostly of students from the American Film Institute's study centre, worked for free or for deferred salaries. With no distributor, Cassavetes's company organised screenings itself in universities, where he came with Falk, and he telephoned cinema owners. Gena Rowlands, his wife since 1954, appears in seven of the films he directed.
Who it is for
A film of two hours thirty-five minutes in its original version, shot with a handheld camera in long sequence shots, where the improvisation remains structured.
Prizes and reception
Two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe for Gena Rowlands, two prizes at the San Sebastián festival, and added in 1990 to the National Film Registry.
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