Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

See what’s playing
A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence
8.9
/10
7,893 Ratings

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Directed by John Cassavetes
United States, 1974
Drama

Synopsis

Mabel, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially around others, she craves happiness, but her volatile behaviour convinces Nick that she poses a danger to their family and decides to commit her to an institution.

Synopsis

Mabel, desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick. Increasingly unstable, especially around others, she craves happiness, but her volatile behaviour convinces Nick that she poses a danger to their family and decides to commit her to an institution.

Our take

A tornado of raw emotions and virtuosic camerawork, John Cassavetes’s beloved masterpiece charts the disintegration of a Californian housewife. In a volatile yet vulnerable performance that has inspired generations of performers, Gena Rowlands buckles under the impossible weight of crumpled dreams.