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Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence seals my belief in the uniqueness of his film making. Very few film makers can really boast of having a unique style and Cassavetes is one among them.

Once again in this movie we are impressed by first and foremost the docu-drama style of Cassavetes which makes the films appear extremely realistic. This coupled with the supreme performances of Rowlands and Falks make the film almost a voyeur like experience. This obviously has its merits as the viewer is astounded by the realism but along with it there is one major drawback and that is that the viewer doesn’t like things to appear unexplained in such a film. The major point that remained unexplained(or atleast not evident to me) was the reason for Rowlands mental deterioration. She seems to have a good stable family support which is generally very reassuring for a housewife. The only thing that she seems to probably lack is a friend but in her “Five points” she has considered her husband to be everything for her so one wonders what exactly is the trigger for her mental deterioration. One may argue that the film is not about the reason for the deterioration but rather the way a family must deal with it which is well appreciated, but unfortunately, Cassavetes docu-drama style leaves you wanting those explanations. There was too much time spent in the movie depicting Rowland’s insanity which created many intensely dramatic moments that were probably not necessary. This movie in fact reminds me of Polanski’s Repulsion which probably dealt with the process of insanity better than this movie but then that film has other drawbacks which I have explained in a separate review.

In conclusion, I would say that this movie is definitely worth watching for the two lead performances and for experiencing the uniqueness of Cassavetes’ style of film making which although has certain drawbacks, is still an experience that we rarely get in movies these days.

“the performances are great, but man, what a long, unpleasant movie. i don’t understand how anyone could watch this more than once. "

I think there is some truth in this statement. Outstanding performance from Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands. I am not one who usually says things like this but it was very long and I mean unnecessary long. It was still an interesting movie that was well worth watching. There were a few memorable moments that were stylishly filmed and some truly quality emotional undertones. Like I said before the performances were what really stood out.

Ketika berbicara tentang apa itu film Indie atau Independent asal Amerika Serikat, kebanyakan orang akan berfikir tentang Quentin Tarantino dengan Reservoir Dogs dan Pulp Fiction, karena film tersebut mempunyai dialog-dialog keren dan alur narasi yang tidak lazim, atau Little Miss Sunshine karena film tersebut dibuat dengan budget yang terbilang sangat kecil untuk industri film Amerika.

Film independen telah ada semenjak lahirnya media film itu sendiri, tetapi kebanyakan memang dibuat bukan untuk kepentingan komersial alias untuk hobi pribadi saja. Amerika Serikat dengan studio-studio filmnya yang mempunyai biaya promosi dan pemasaran bombastis adalah negara dimana media film dapat dikatakan memang diproduksi dengan tujuan mencari keuntungan, lebih ke urusan bisnis dibandingkan kebebasan berekspresi.

Di era 50-an, dimana kamera video lebih terjangkau untuk dibeli, telah ada nama seperti Lionel Rogosin, Shirley Clarke, dan Bruce Conner yang membuat scene film Indie di Amerika terasa lebih ramai. Namun John Cassavetes-lah orang yang dianggap paling berjasa dan membuat banyak orang sadar bahwa film dapat dibuat dengan dana sendiri, serta didistribusikan sendiri untuk dilihat oleh banyak orang.

A Woman Under the Influence adalah film Indie ketiganya setelah sukses di Eropa dengan Shadows (1958), dan tiga nominasi Oscar pada 1968 dengan Faces. Dibuat dengan merogoh koceknya sendiri hasil aktingnya dalam beberapa film produksi Hollywood seperti Dirty Dozen dan Rosemary’s Baby, A Woman Under the Influence berfokus kepada cerita kompleksnya hubungan sepasang suami-istri dengan tiga anak kecil menjalani tantangan untuk menghadapi masalah “kegilaan” yang diderita oleh sang istri. Mabel (Gena Rowlands), sang istri adalah seorang wanita dengan masalah kejiwaan yang kadang dapat bertindak berlebihan bila merasa terlalu antusias terhadap sesuatu. Dia tidak berbahaya bagi orang di sekitarnya, bahkan dia dapat menjalankan fungsinya sebagai ibu rumah tangga kepada suaminya Nick (Peter Falk), dan ketiga anak mereka.

Nick yang masih dipengaruhi kuat oleh ibunya lama-kelamaan merasa perlu untuk “menyembuhkan” Mabel agar dapat terlihat normal layaknya orang lain di lingkungan mereka dengan cara membawa Mabel ke sebuah institusi kejiwaan selama 6 bulan. Problem utamanya bukan hanya tentang bagaimana orang-orang di sekitar Mabel merasa dia aneh, tetapi sama sulitnya untuk Mabel menerima dirinya berbeda dengan orang lain dan membuat dirinya beradaptasi terhadap orang lain.

Kehebatan Cassavetes terletak pada observasinya yang mendalam terhadap individu-individu dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Kita tidak diberi dialog-dialog cerdas khas Tarantinian, tetapi dialog yang simpel, kadang terdengar bodoh, dan lucu seperti yang kita dengar dan lakukan dalam keseharian hidup kita. Emosi dan gambaran karakter kita tangkap karena kita mengenal karakter-karakter tersebut dari dialog dan tindakan mereka. Simpati dan benci kita terhadap suatu karakter muncul seperti saat kita mengevaluasi seorang teman atau kerabat dari aksi nyata yang mereka perlihatkan dan lakukan kepada kita. Everything that is on the surface.

Cassavetes mencoba untuk mendudukkan kita pada posisi Nick, Mabel, ketiga anaknya, maupun peran pembantu lainnya. Bagaimana kita merespon situasi tersebut. Bagaimana kita membuat diri kita terlihat bodoh, hilang arah, perduli dengan pendapat dan perkataan orang lain hanya untuk terlihat baik dimata orang luar, dan bagaimana kita dapat menemukan diri kita sendiri, jikalau kita beruntung dan berani untuk membuka pikiran untuk mencoba mengerti permasalahan yang terjadi pada orang lain.
Banyak karakter-karakter dalam film Cassavetes adalah alter-egonya sendiri, tetapi tidak ada yang lebih mendekati daripada Mabel. Mabel adalah Cassavetes, entertainer yang eksentrik, pantomim yang suka memparodikan orang di sekitarnya, mistress of ceremonies penuh guyonan.

Ketika banyak orang ribut tentang film Indie itu harusnya mempunyai sebuah ide segar, berbeda, dan cara bercerita yang unik sehingga membuat film Indie secara superficial terlihat berbeda dengan film yang dibuat studio mainstream Hollywood, Cassavetes mengingatkan kembali tugas seorang seniman itu sebagai reporter terhadap permasalahan dan keberatan-keberatan yang ada di dalam diri dan pikiran seorang seniman itu sendiri. Film-filmnya tidak akan lekang dimakan waktu, karena tidak dibuat berdasarkan suatu invention of idea atau dari segi teknis, tetapi lebih ke invention of understanding between or among people. Film-film dari John Cassavetes mengajarkan dan memberi pengalaman baru dalam melihat, merasakan, mendengar, dan belajar tentang orang lain, dan yang paling penting tentang diri kita sendiri, the personal truth.

(in conversation with Berjuan)

A Woman Under the Influence was very great without doubt. It succeds in making the audience so uncomfortable that my body tells me that I prefer Faces more. Here we have every character being assholes in their own ways, yet the most harmless character is institutionalised because she does not conform to basic social conventions. Yes, she might have been “mentally ill” but the treatment certainly did not help, only sobering her and making her even more ill in my opinion. Besides, I have always been wary of psychiatric evaluation, and while I do believe that she deserved some antidepressents to calm her down, she did not deserve to be institutionalised and given shock therapy.

Thus I think that the whole story can be read as a kind of parable about society. Though messed up (Peter Falk is pretty damn aggressive), society puts on a facade of perfection and demands that all its members conform to this facade, less they be violently suppressed.

But yet again, this film can of course be read as two human beings’ inability to express their feelings for each other. (I will probably read it both ways.) This is due to the alienation found in Faces again, in my opinion, where the characters are too preoccupied fitting into society to actually be part of it.

I won’t comment on the technical aspects here because obviously they are very good.

I recently popped my “A Woman Under the Influence” cherry and was profoundly disturbed (touched?) by Gena Rowlands’ performance as well as Peter Falk’s. Spolier alert — the film tells the heartbreaking story of the unraveling of the Longhetti family as a loving husband, Nick, tries to deal with his wife, Mabel’s, mental instability and eventually has her committed. Cassavetes then shows the destruction of the family six months later when Mabel returns home. I left the theatre a ball of emotion; sadness for the overall family situation, helplessness at an inability for anyone in the family or friend circle to just hold things together, hope that the unconditional love between Nick and Mabel can translate from the silver screen into real life, personal identification on a much lesser level to a need to be understood by those you love and who love you. Because I saw the film in a theatre, the emotion I felt most strongly was, surprisingly, a strange sense of protectiveness (I know that is not a real word) towards Mabel and the entire Longhetti family. Mabel and Nick’s most heartbreaking moments, their most exposed and vulnerable, were also some of the most comical in the film and generated the biggest laughs from the crowd. The group reaction made the film oddly hard for me to watch. To hear people laugh at a family’s most initimate moments splashed across the screen was not only uncomfortable but stirred in me an angry (yikes — dare I say, maternal?) want to shelter.