Product Details

• Actors: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk
• Directors: John Cassavetes
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Run Time: 147 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0012TIWTY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,607 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A harrowing account of one family's mental deterioration..., March 16, 2009

By 

Andrew Ellington (I'm kind of everywhere) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Woman Under the Influence (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

I haven't been able to think about anything but this film for some time now. The truth of the matter is that no matter how frustrating the film can be and no matter how irritating the actions of many people within the film may be, the powerful performance by Gena Rowlands is so powerful that it makes the entire exercise well worth it. After seeing this film a few times and salivating over this woman's complete transformation I'm ready and willing to say that she delivers what may possibly be the finest performance by any actress ever committed to the big screen.

So, regardless of your feelings on the film in general, there is no denying that this brilliantly constructed performance deserves to be seen.

The film tells the story of Nick and Mabel Longhetti. They are a middle aged married couple with three kids and a big problem; Mabel isn't all there. Mabel suffers from a mental illness that causes her to repel those around her, especially her husband Nick, who loves her but doesn't understand how to deal with her.

The film is basically a study of what mental illness really is, literally and figuratively. Mabel is the one suffering literally, but Nick is definitely ill and or mad in a more figurative sense; thus making him the more dangerous and unlikable character. His madness transcends the boundaries of `frustrated victim' and he becomes an enabler and an abuser in order to try and restore some sense of order in his home. Mabel, the primary cause of all the turmoil, is never acting out of malicious intent but is always portrayed as trying to restore some sort of peace, and so her actions are perceived as normal compared to her husbands reactions to them. Sure, she is a little eccentric, but her madness is almost dwarfed by the effect it has on those around her.

This was such a smart move, because it challenges all we know about what the true sense of mental deterioration is. Mabel seems to be normal to us; we love her and appreciate her and want her to succeed. Nick appears to be the insane one, thus further impressing on us the off-kilter appearance of normalcy.

It's a bold move, but in my opinion it was well worth it in this case.

While I personally was off put by the unresolved ending provided to the film, I must say that it adds a layer of stark realism to the films controversial subject matter. I won't say how the film ends, but in my opinion it was probably the way it needed to end, regardless of how I would have liked things to end. The thin line between mental health and regression is kept throughout the film and thus is something of a conversation starter upon the films conclusion.

Who was really crazy; Nick or Mabel?

Were they both?

Neither?

I also thought that the reactions from friends and family were pertinent to the morale of the film. Having the varying degrees of their individual stances on the subject made known helped create an ambiguous tone to the film. This is not a film that sports any answers to the questions it asks but forces the audience to decide for themselves.

I do admit that this film will be off putting to some. The ending, the whole idea of Nick, as well as some other ways in which the disease is regarded may turn some off to the concept director John Cassavetes was toying with here, but truly this is an art piece that deserves to be seen and discussed. I personally love this movie and find it to be a startling and very intensely frank portrait of the American marriage, complete with its ups and downs. It is less a film about mental disease and more a film about human relationships and the excuses we make for our selfish and domineering behavior. Using the backdrop of mental insanity in order to explore this subject was an inspired decision.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Falk is incredible, April 5, 2011

By 

halmt "halmt" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Woman Under the Influence (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Peter Falk as the confused blue-collar husband who is in over his head dealing with mental illness is the performance of a generation. He makes it seem so real and speaks for an entire slice of the American dream. Columbo made him a household name, but this movie shows how great he really was.

4.0 out of 5 stars The harrrowing portrait of a family the cell of society !, August 25, 2011

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Woman Under the Influence (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

In light of more than thirty-five years after this film was made, one can observe that without a shadow of doubt the seventies were by far, the golden years of the introspective drama like no other else. Films of the artistic level such as Sybil, Dog day afternoon, Scarecrow, Equus, Network, Three women or The woman under the influence are totally missed.

This is an ambitious and harrowing drama focusing the crumbling process of madness around a lower-middle-class housewife, searching for her identity, devastatingly acted by Gena Rowlands.

John Casavettes - like others emblematic directors like Lumet, Pakula, Jerzy Schatzberg or Robert Altman - knew to undertake this project into a depressive historical period of the North American society. Vietnam and Watergate became for many a turning point in their lives and a big query in the air about the hopeless future.

I cannot give this film five stars due it's overlong and at times overindulgent. Despite of it, the film is hailed and adored for many people around the world, due its implacable realism. It's a stark vision of the family in those years.

A film that must be seen, due it was without hesitation the masterwork of John Casavettes.