A Woman Under the Influence

Starring:Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes, Matthew Laborteaux, Matthew Cassel, Christina Grisanti, O.G. Dunn, Mario Gallo, Eddie Shaw, Angelo Grisanti, Charles Horvath, James Joyce (II), John Finnegan, Vincent Barbi, Cliff Carnell, Frank Richards, Hugh Hurd, Leon Wagner (II)
Director: John Cassavetes
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
John Cassavetes's long, free-form drama is best appreciated as a good showcase for Gena Rowlands, playing a woman whose sanity literally appears to be shattering as different aspects of her personality eclipse others at various times. Peter Falk plays her struggling, blue-collar husband, trying to understand the phenomenon and sometimes losing his patience. As with most of Cassavetes's works as a director, one can't help but find one's attention drifting in and out (especially at two and a half hours), but Rowland's performance is a key reason the film has been declared a "national treasure" by the Library of Congress. --Tom Keogh
Description
A tough-minded, moving film about a working-class housewife's mental breakdown caused by imposed social rules. This insightful study of sexual politics earned both Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes an Oscar nomination. Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Matthew Cassel.

John Cassavetes - Five Films (Shadows / Faces / A Woman Under the Influence / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie / Opening Night ) - Criterion Collection
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A COVETED COLLECTION

Criterion's most amazing collection to date

DO NOT BUY THIS!

John Cassevettes

John Cassavetes - Five Films (Shadows / Faces / A Woman Under the Influence / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie / Opening Night ) - Criterion Collection
Starring: John Cassavetes-Five Films
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002JP2OS
Release Date: 2004-09-21

Amazon.com

Improvised by the cast, shot in black and white, John Cassavetes's first independent feature, Shadows, looked like no other film of its time. Cassavetes, seeking to both deal with social issues and create a new kind of cinema, told a story about a family of black siblings in Manhattan trying to make ends meet. Though it meanders at times, it features the kind of spontaneous emotion Cassavetes most wanted to elicit in his films.

A sensation in 1968, Faces earned Oscar nominations for actors Seymour Cassel and Lynn Carlin. Improvised and shot in an edgy, hand-held fashion, the film examines the disintegration of the marriage of a couple in mid-life doldrums. Each seeks solace elsewhere: husband John Marley with prostitute Gena Rowlands, wife Carlin with a free spirit played by Cassel. But neither finds anything approaching the fulfillment they feel is missing from the marriage. Indeed, in Cassavetes's probe of raw emotions, these people discover that, just maybe, the problem lies not with their spouse but with themselves.

The long, free-form drama A Woman Under the Influence is best appreciated as a good showcase for Rowlands, playing a woman whose sanity literally appears to be shattering as different aspects of her personality eclipse others at various times. Peter Falk plays her struggling, blue-collar husband, trying to understand the phenomenon and sometimes losing his patience. As with most of Cassavetes's works as a director, one can't help but find one's attention drifting in and out, but Rowland's performance is a key reason the film has been declared a "national treasure" by the Library of Congress.

The title of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is the only commercial element in this fascinating character study by writer-director Cassavetes, who once again finds his cinematic soulmate in actor Ben Gazzara. The film uses verité technique to tell the story of Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara), a Hollywood strip-club owner whose growing debt to a local gangster can only be erased if he agrees to kill a rival Chinese gangster. As usual, Cassavetes employs his favorite actors (including Seymour Cassel and the fearsome Timothy Carey) and vivid improvisation to give Chinese Bookie a tense atmosphere of emotional urgency.

Gena Rowlands stars in Opening Night, Cassavetes's drama of an aging, alcoholic stage actress in the days leading up to her latest Broadway opening. Like all of her collaborations with her writer-director husband, Rowlands is a woman on the verge of collapse, this time a lonely alcoholic whose very life is a performance. Overlong at 144 minutes, the film's long, loose scenes build through uncomfortable small talk and slow, tentative confrontations. Some of the scenes are edgy and thrilling, though many find this facet of Cassavetes pretentious and self-indulgent. Ultimately it's a matter of taste: if you like his style, you'll love this discomforting drama.

The eight-disc Criterion Collection set is filled out with the 2000 documentary A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes, plus numerous interviews, a second version of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, a commentary track for A Woman Under the Influence, a 68-page book, and various other features.

Description

This boxed set includes the following titles: • Shadows (1959) 81 min. B&W. 1.33:1 aspect ratio • Faces (1968) 130 min. B&W. 1.66:1 aspect ratio • A Woman Under the Influence (1974) 147 min. Color. 1.85:1 aspect ratio • The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) 135 min. Color. 1.85:1 aspect ratio • Opening Night (1977) 144 min. Color. 1.66:1 aspect ratio • A Constant Forge (2000) 200 min. Color. 1.33:1 aspect ratio John Cassavetes has been called a genius, a visionary, and the father of independent film. But all this rhetoric threatens to obscure the humanism and generosity of his art. The five films included here represent his self-financed works made outside the studio system of Hollywood, on which he was afforded complete control. While about beatniks, hippies, businessmen, actors, housewives, strippers, club owners, gangsters, and children, all of them are beautiful, emotional testaments to compassion. Cassavetes has often been called an actor's director, but this body of work—astoundingly, even greater than the sum of its extraordinarily significant parts—reveals him to be an audience's director. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night in stunning new transfers. Includes Charles Kiselyak's A Constant Forge, a candid biographical documentary on the life and work of Cassavetes .

Customer Reviews:

I like it a lot.......2007-03-30

This director is fantastic. I have just dicovered it and I love it. The edition is nice and fancy. DVD are very complet, english subtitles (very important for me since I am not english native and I need the subtitles to follow the story).

A COVETED COLLECTION .......2007-01-15

I HAD BEEN PROMISING MYSELF THIS CRITERION COLLECTION FOR QUITE AWHILE AND FINALLY I BOUGHT IT AND IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY! IT BROUGHT BACK MY MEMORIES OF WHEN I FIRST SAW THE MOVIES IN A CINEMA. A DVD TRIBUTE TO CASSAVETES HAS BEEN LONG OVERDUE. JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE WORKS OF A GENIUS. SO MANY FILMMAKERS OF TODAY HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED AND INSPIRED BY HIS DISTINCTIVE STYLE, GIVING AMERICAN MOVIES A CINEMA VERITE LOOK. AS A BONUS THERE IS AN EXCELLENT DOCUMENTARY "A CONSTANT FORGE" AND LOTS OF EXTRAS ON EACH DVD TOO. A PRIZED POSSESSION FOR CASSAVETES FANS!

Criterion's most amazing collection to date.......2006-06-04

John Cassavetes - Five Films is, perhaps, Criterion's most ambitious project to date. The box set is absolutely amazing. Other reviews have done a good job of explaining the extras, so I won't repeat that information. The topic of Ray Carney has been the focus of much anger and frustration amongst Cassavetes fans and deserves some explanation. It is my understanding that Carney, the foremost Cassavetes scholar and author of "Cassavetes on Cassavetes", was almost solely responsible for the creation of this collection. He had a hand in everything and the set is the result of much hard work. His name was left off of the set at the last minute because of a dispute with Cassavetes' wife, Gena Rowlands. Ray Carney felt, as any scholar should, that the truth was important and did not make any attempt to hide any of the negative aspects of Cassavetes's life. This was completely unacceptable to Rowlands who threatened to kill the project unless Carney's name was removed completely. This also included the omission of several audio commentaries provided by Carney. What a shame! Contrary to the highly specious "documentary", A Constant Forge, Cassavetes was no saint. Who cares? Well, Gena Rowlands does.

Everything about this set is quite impressive. The book contains many thoughtful essays and insights into these complex and sometimes difficult films. The only weakness is the worthless "documentary". Don't be fooled - Charles Kiselyak is no Cassavetes scholar. Supposedly, he had never even heard of Cassavetes before he began filming. Again, Ray Carney provided all the factual information, which Kiselyak decided to discard in favor of crafting an "inspirational" narrative. A Constant Forge frequently feels more like a bizarre attempted beatification than an objective study of a real person. For those wishing to be disabused, check out Carney's excellent book, "Cassavetes on Cassavetes". Cassavetes never really sat down and wrote a lot about his life or work, but Carney spent years compiling every scrap of information available, forming a chronological narrative. He alternates Cassavetes's passages with what actually happened. Cassavetes was prone to exaggeration to the extreme. A lot of what he says is an outright fabrication, but that shouldn't diminish the importance of his films.

All this controversy really misses the point. These are amazing films that continue to influence filmmakers all over the world. Criterion did an excellent job and their handling of the Carney/Rowlands issue shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of this set in the slightest. It is a wonderful introduction to one of the most important American directors and belongs on every film connoisseur's shelf. Buy without hesitation.

DO NOT BUY THIS!.......2005-12-01

Please do not support this release of Cassavetes' films by Criterion Collection. Purchasing this DVD set constitutes a denigration of real criticism and suppresses the appreciation and comprehension of true art. The troubling circumstances leading up to the release of this edition (in which world-renowned Cassavetes critic Ray Carney was snubbed and fired after his work was completed) are absolutely pathetic and embarrassing for both Criterion and Miss Rowlands.

John Cassevettes.......2005-09-02

I'm very please with service from amazon ... it got here on time great product however one of the disc was slitely damaged with a very small scratch which disrupts maybe i minute of viweing however it's my choice to keep it.. and i know i could return it... i will buy from amazon again

Average customer rating:

Courageous and Uncompromising Film
Absolutely Unforgettable
Worth Seeing
An American Masterpiece
Has Cassavetes ever watched a Cassavetes film?

A Woman Under the Influence
Starring: Peter Falk , Gena Rowlands , Fred Draper , Lady Rowlands , and Katherine Cassavetes
Director: John Cassavetes
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Faces
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Gloria (1980) (Ws Sub)
The Lady from Shanghai
Opening Night

ASIN: 6304864159
Release Date: 1998-03-24

Amazon.com

John Cassavetes's long, free-form drama is best appreciated as a good showcase for Gena Rowlands, playing a woman whose sanity literally appears to be shattering as different aspects of her personality eclipse others at various times. Peter Falk plays her struggling, blue-collar husband, trying to understand the phenomenon and sometimes losing his patience. As with most of Cassavetes's works as a director, one can't help but find one's attention drifting in and out (especially at two and a half hours), but Rowland's performance is a key reason the film has been declared a "national treasure" by the Library of Congress. --Tom Keogh

Description

A tough-minded, moving film about a working-class housewife's mental breakdown caused by imposed social rules. This insightful study of sexual politics earned both Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes an Oscar nomination. Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Matthew Cassel.

Customer Reviews:

Courageous and Uncompromising Film.......2007-04-28

This movie is a breakthrough - courageous and uncompromising view at the family and at the marriage where both spouses love each other deeply but they are both not well, they don't know how communicate when somebody else present, even their own children. They could be happy on the deserted island but not surrounded by friends and families. I was fascinated by both, Peter Falk's and Gena Rowlands' performances. She looked like a little girl, trapped in a woman's body - confused, insecure, listening to what is inside of her. When she said to her children, "I hope that you will never grow up", she meant it because she never felt comfortable as a grown up. I could not take my yes off Rowlands. Her performance is on par with the best study of nervous breakdown I've seen, and this is Liv Ullmann in Bergman's "Face to Face".

Peter Falks was also a revelation - I love him as Lt. Columbo in the TV series but he is a completely different character here; in a way, he is as mentally unbalanced as his wife is. The fact that he loves her but never hesitates to abuse her makes him terrifying - you never know how he will act in the next moment, and he does not know himself. Directing and writing are absolutely first class, and I am very exited to see more films by John Cassavetes, the Godfather of American Independent film-making and a father of American "New Wave"

4.5/5

Absolutely Unforgettable.......2007-04-07

I think the director hit the bullseye here.

Not co-incidentally the documentary "A Decade Under the Influence" was named after this film--showcasing those renegade filmmakers of the 1970s who defied Hollywood in their portrayal of realistic, sympathethic characters and the everyday living room dramas encasing them.

Gena Rowlands in her tour-de-force performace as the Woman Under the Influence, implied insantiy, but truthfully, just trying to function in the world around her--her blue collar foreman husband, her children whom she adores just short of pathology, and the enclosure of her housewife home.

it doesn't matter, at least to me, what drives her off the edge, just watch Gena Rowlands having that marvelous breakdown in her living room which we all deserve to have, fighting off invisible demons, while her dimwitted husband tries to deal with the unraveling of his wife. "Now don't go crazy on me" he reasons, while she just fights and lashes out against mental illness demons that seem to be coming in closer and closet to her physical space. See it and you will never, ever forget her piece of acting.

It's one of the greatest, most harrowing pieces of cinema I've ever seen. It's a slowbuild up, and the raison d'etre for it happens right under your nose. It speaks to the insanity of the times--a woman trying so hard to --again Im trying to rationalze what's happening here, but truthfully, you just have to see the film for yourself and see what's going and maybe make up your own mind,.

I see a complexity in the human spirit, and a challenge of wills, between the rational and the unrational,
all brought forth by Ms. Rowland. There's more to chew on and digest, but I suggest this movie for
its acting alone. I've never forgotten it and may write more on it here, but it's just one of those things that stands alone in time. Thank God this movie will never be remade, because it just wouldn't make any sense now but also for the very reason that the Mabel role belongs to no-one else than Gena Rowlands and Gena Rowlands alone.

Worth Seeing.......2006-11-16

The relationship between Mabel and Nick is the heart of the film. Just when you think Falk is playing Nick as the ever-suffering patient husband, he shows the character to be much more complex. Rowlands as Mabel is even better - there isn't a facial expression or mannerism that's wasted. Her longing to connect with other people is almost painful to watch. Although several of Mabel's actions strongly imply mental illness, it's fascinating to think about the fine line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior among the characters. Why is Mabel's Swan Lake routine any crazier than the guys who burst into song at the dinner table? Why is her after-school party any crazier than the trip to the beach? I think it's too simplistic to just say it's sexism. Much more subtle, often unspoken rules and boundaries seem to be in play. I also appreciated Cassavetes's refusal to romanticize working class life. I know first-hand that there's warmth and humor and devotion to family, but often there's also a particular kind of brutality, close-mindedness, and helplessness that can deeply damage the lives of people who have to make a living out of their sweat.

An American Masterpiece.......2006-07-06

There's not much else to say about Cassvetes' film other than it's a masterpiece of the dramatic arts. Unrelenting and fascinating, it depicts a young wife's descent into madness. It's a bitter slice of life, but it's also exactly that: life captured in all its pain and glory through artistry of the highest order. Gena Rowland's performance is probably one of the finest ever captured on film. If you enjoy this film, I also recommend tracking down "The Pumpkin Eater" starring Anne Bancroft - a similar film of a woman driven to breakdown by the cruel informalities of what we call love. Handled with sleek overtones of British filmmaking during the 60s, it may stand as a counterpoint to the gritty reality of America's great "Woman Under the Influence."

Has Cassavetes ever watched a Cassavetes film?.......2006-04-06

Mabel is suffering a mental breakdown. This movie follows her disturbance, her family dealing with it, and her subsequent return in order to show an unconventional and more true-to-life account of mental image. A lot of it is claustrophobic and irritating, but it's one of those movies of which one can't deny its powers.

Now I appreciate Cassavetes' approach to cinema, but I just can't like it, since a large part of it seems directly produced to be completely unlikeable. This movie clocks in to about two and a half hours, a long feature even for a typical film, but as it's mostly long scenes of uncomfortable reactions, it gets a little hard to take at points. And near the end, when the husband guy is shouting, "God I could kill you, I'm going to kill you!" I believe others could stand with me when I say that every bone in my body wished he would kill someone or someone would die just so that some form of change, closure, or denouement could occur. No such luck, but that's the point, isn't it? I like Faces a lot better, but this one I think is a lot more remarkably structured. It seems almost as if it doesn't have a particular reason to end, just ending whenever, but the fact that it's split into very long, distinctive scenes (something like five or six of them) helps to realize that this film works a lot in real-time, showing domestic issues that tragically go on just about as long as we spend watching them... longer, actually, but please, let's not encourage him! Let's face it. There is NO entertainment value in it, there is little compelling about it, and it's about as nice to watch as sticking pins in your eyes... and yet, it's still a good movie. I just can't help but wonder if Cassavetes has ever watched one of his own films.

--PolarisDiB

A Woman Under the Influence (The John Cassavetes Collection) [Region 2 Import]

Average customer rating:

A Woman Under the Influence (The John Cassavetes Collection) [Region 2 Import]
Director: John Cassavetes
Manufacturer: Optimum Classic
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

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Product Features:

Interviews
Audio: Engish Mono

ASIN: B000LSY5R0

Product Description

Cassavetes' most commercially successful feature and a benchmark of American independent cinema, A Woman Under The Influence is a devastating drama starring Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti, a mother of three whose blue collar husband Nick (Peter Falk) toils as a construction worker. Their simmering differences lead to a series of domestic dramas that eventually culminate in Mabel's nervous breakdown and six-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Once released, Mabel and Nick must confront their uncertain futures. A characteristically honest and uncompromising look at emotional breakdown, mental illness and suburban alienation, A Woman Under the Influence boasts one of cinema's most memorable performances from Rowlands, who won a Golden Globe and also earned an Academy Award nomination. Cassavetes was also recognised by the Academy, and his long-takes, extreme close-ups, 'improvisational' approach to dialogue (actually scripted) and attentiveness to mood and emotion as opposed to narrative pay dividends. Distributed by Cassavetes himself to avoid studio interference, this is a truly astonishing, maverick work

Average customer rating:

A Woman Under the Influence [Region 2]
Starring: Peter Falk , Gena Rowlands , Fred Draper , Lady Rowlands , and Katherine Cassavetes
Director: John Cassavetes
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VYIV

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