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.
What are some of your favorite representations/examinations of madness in film, how have you reacted to them and why?
Madness in Film about 3 years ago
Dear forum, it’s me Margaret.
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.
What are some of your favorite representations/examinations of madness in film, how have you reacted to them and why?
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