MOVIE · 1974

A Woman Under the Influence

DramaRomance155 min

Mabel Longhetti is a Los Angeles housewife and mother whose need for connection keeps colliding with the pressures of family life. Gena Rowlands is Mabel, impulsive and increasingly erratic in social situations, while Peter Falk’s Nick is a municipal construction worker trying to hold their household together as her behavior alarms relatives and neighbors. John Cassavetes keeps the focus tight on the Longhettis’ marriage, where love, embarrassment, anger, and dependence all crowd the same rooms as a private crisis becomes impossible for the family to contain.