History Film / AWomanUnderTheInfluence

-> '''Nick''': Mabel is not crazy, she's unusual. She's not crazy, so don't say she's crazy.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Everything we need to know about Mabel is right there in her first scene. She hops across the lawn on one foot to load her kids into grandma’s car, nervously conducts the car backing out of the driveway with manic repetition of words, instantly scolds herself for letting them go, stumbles in the yard and adjusts her flip flop, runs inside and points to various things in her living room, like a true obsessive-compulsive, goes to grab a dress box off a shelf but swats it halfway across the room, holds a radio playing opera music up to her ear, goes out for a smoke and comes back in, and finally makes a bizarre gesture with both of her hands as if mocking the living room floor. Yeah, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} would be an ''{{understatment}}'' here.

Mabel and Nick Longhetti (Rowlands and Peter Falk) are a lower-middle class family in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, with Nick working for a construction company and Mabel the mother of three children. Nick is shouty and mean, and Mabel is cracking under the strain of an unhappy marriage and home. Eventually she has a full-on breakdown that results in her being taken away to an asylum for six months. She's sent home, but things really haven't gotten any better.

A 1974 psychological drama, written and directed by Creator/JohnCassavetes, and starring Gena Rowlands. Cassavetes wrote the film as Rowlands, his wife, wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play.

A 1974 drama film written and directed by Creator/JohnCassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play.

Mabel and Nick Longhetti (Rowlands and Peter Falk) are a lower-middle class family in LosAngeles, with Nick working for a construction company and Mabel the mother of three children. Nick is shouty and mean, and Mabel is cracking under the strain of an unhappy marriage and home. Eventually she has a full-on breakdown that results in her being taken away to an asylum for six months. She's sent home, but things really haven't gotten any better.

A 1974 drama film written & directed by Creator/JohnCassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play.

Mabel and Nick Longhetti (Rowlands and Peter Falk) are a lower-middle class family in Los Angeles, with Nick working for a construction company and Mabel the mother of three children. Nick is shouty and mean, and Mabel is cracking under the strain of an unhappy marriage and home. Eventually she has a full-on breakdown that results in her being taken away to an asylum for six months. She's sent home, but things really haven't gotten any better.

[[quoteright:226:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/225px_awomanunderinfluence.jpg]]

* SelfHarm: Nick stops her from going beyond butting her hand in the bathroom. After she just continues on putting the kids to bed with a bloody hand.

A 1974 drama film written & directed by Creator/JohnCassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play. She plays housewife & mother of three Mabel Longhetti, Peter Falk plays her construction worker husband Nick. The film takes place before and after she's institutionalized for six months, but really they're both crazy.

%%* ALittleHelpFromMyFriends: Peter Falk read the script and decided to help the movie get made despite the lack of any studio support. Of course he gets a lead role (which he performs very well).
* NoEnding: Nothing is actually resolved at the end of the movie.

A 1974 drama film written & directed by ''Creator/JohnCassavetes'', starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play. She plays housewife & mother of three Mabel Longhetti, Peter Falk plays her construction worker husband Nick. The film takes place before and after she's institutionalized for six months, but really they're both crazy.

* ALittleHelpFromMyFriends: Peter Falk read the script and decided to help the movie get made despite the lack of any studio support. Of course he gets a lead role (which he performs very well).

* ProductionPosse: Falk and of course Rowlands are Cassavetes regulars.
* RealLifeRelative: Lady Rowlands plays Mabel's mother. Katherine Cassavetes plays her mother-in-law.
* SelfHarm: Nick stops her from going beyond butting her hand in the bathroom. Afer she just continues on putting the kids to bed with a bloody hand.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Even critics who liked the film said they wanted to throw up afterward.

A 1974 drama film written & directed by ''Creator/JohnCassavetes'', starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play. She plays Mabel Longetti, Peter Falk plays her husband Nick. The film takes place before and after she's institutionalized for six months, but really they're both crazy.

* RealLifeRelative: Lady Rowlands plays Mabel's mother. Katherine Cassavetes plays her mother-in-law.

A 1974 drama film written & directed by John Cassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands (his wife). He wrote it because she wanted a role to illustrate difficulties faced by contemporary women, and made it into a film because it would be too intense to perform eight nights a week as a play. She plays Mabel Longetti, Peter Falk plays her husband Nick. The film takes place before and after she's institutionalized for six months, but really they're both crazy.