Gena Rowlands in A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2025
- Gena Rowlands gives one of the greatest screen performances of all time alongside Peter Falk in John Cassavetes's A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE.
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This has always been a genuine contender for greatest ever performance from an actress. RIP one of the best to ever do it.
you mean r i p to both best actors
I have to agree 100%
Was just saying the same thing to a friend, which brought me here. Yes. I can think of competitors for the title, but Rowlands, I think, takes it. Perhaps sharing the honor with Philip Baker Hall in Altman’s “Secret Honor.”
Great actress!!!!
My mother is schizoaffective, I saw a lot of her in the film. Gena's performance is brilliant, I understand why she said she couldn't reprise the role. Rest in peace, Gena.
Mine had Schitz alcoholic psychotic. My heart broke
]
My deceased mother who suffered from mental illness came out of the theatre and said to me they made a film about our family. RIP Mother
The part where she says, "Tell me what you want me to be, how you want me to be...pppt, I can be that. I can be anything," is so sweet and sad.
It broke my heart a little 😢
The greatest acting performance by a woman I’ve ever seen. She embodied the craft… body, heart, and soul.
She was truly an outstanding actress and an even more outstanding contributor to cinema. Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes were an amazing power couple. R.I.P. to you, Ms. Rowlands.
Saw this recently. I grew up in a house like this. It was very riveting. Searing .
Best performance ever. Rip, Gena.
Peter Falk had such a lovable face. The way he looks at her @ 1:58 makes me tear up.
The performance as stayed with me for YEARS, I will never be over it. And Peter Falk was unbelievable as well
2:22 is such brilliant acting, I never forgot this scene. She looks a lot like my mom so when I watch it I feel like I have a mother who communicates her feelings and loves spending time with her children.
I feel like actresses have been chasing this performance ever since. RIP Gena.
She was one of the best actresses of all time. A unique blend of strength and vulnerability. Always emotionally genuine, deeply touching and absolutely convincing.
Rest in peace Gena Rowlands. This has been one of the biggest personal losses for me in Hollywood. She’s one of my favorite actresses for her role in A Woman Under the Influence.
I do love this movie. And my mother was never diagnosed with a mental illness but this character does remind me of her a bit. It's partly the era, the clothes, the hairstyle. Something very nostalgic about this film for me. I was so happy when I bought the Criterion Cassavetes collection in a used dvd store. What an assortment of memorable films.
The best actress, or probably even the best, dare I say it, ACTOR to date to portray personalities with intense emotional excesses.
What a great, great loss 💔
One of my favorite movies of all time.
Gena Rowlands continues to illuminate, inform, and inspire with every performance.
R.I.P. VIRGINIA CATHRYN "GENA" ROWLANDS (1930-2024)
A good friend, Dino Manrique, introduced me to the work of John Cassavetes in 2000. Before even watching any of his films, just reading his words online was like an electric shock to my soul. I love and admire other filmmakers, but Cassavetes is the one I feel the closest to personally, even though I never met him.
Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti in "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974), Directed by John Cassavetes, is one of the three greatest acting performances on film that I have ever seen. The other two are Isabel Adjani in Possession (1981), Dir. Andrzej Żuławski, and Maria Falconetti in La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928), Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer.
(I think it's important to note that Dreyer was Cassavetes' second favorite film director next to Frank Capra. There was reportedly a 4 hour cut of "A Woman Under the Influence" that was described by people who saw it as magnificent, and as slow and stately as Dreyer. - Source: Cassavetes on Cassavetes by Ray Carney)
The filmmaking of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands holds the most special place in my heart and soul as both an audience member and as a filmmaker. The Criterion Collection's Five Films John Cassavetes boxset describes Cassavetes as being both an astonishing director of actors, and (an agitating) director of the audience. I would add to that insight that John couldn't have worked, fell in love and spent his life with a better co-director and collaborator than Gena to astound, baffle, frighten, shake, rattle, unnerve, and disturb the audiences of their films.
"You like to feel when you watch movies, huh? Well, feel this, and this, and this, AND THIS!!!"
Like I said, I never met John, or Gena for that matter. John died in 1989. I was surprised how hard I took Gena's death just a few days ago. She's in reality a stranger to me. I guess that's the power of the very personal truths in the work they made together that make me feel some kind of affinity and closeness.
As a writer-director, John is one of the filmmakers who showed me the possibilities of narrative film beyond its conventional forms.
"So a film scene can be that long? So a film scene can have so many emotional, mental, interaction-al and behavioral things happening all at once, and one after the other?"
As a performer, Gena is one of the actors on a very short list who showed me the possibilities of an acting performance beyond its conventional forms. Instead of just an actor fulfilling the needs of their character in a scene, it transforms into someone living their mysterious, unique, unpredictable, painful, lonely, tumultuous, intense, but also enduring and hopeful life onscreen.
"Her emotions, her thoughts, her expressions, her gestures, her actions, moment-by-moment, so true, so honest, so painful, so committed, they keep changing, so fast, I can't keep up!"
In her greatest performances, like Mabel Longhetti, Gena has that rare quality of creating what I call "spiritual danger" in her acting. It is this quality that makes audiences most uncomfortable. There's a lot of good acting out there for audiences to enjoy. There's a lot of award winning worthy acting out there for audiences to admire. But there are few performances like Gena's in "A Woman Under the Influence" that slip under your skin, that dig deep into your flesh, that pierce you to the very core of your heart's pulse, that stare into your soul with an intense, blinding gaze that can be unbearable.
Rest in peace Gena. Your massive contributions to the arts of acting, theater, and cinema will never be forgotten. Your work with John will continue to inspire generations of artists - if they are brave enough and talented enough - to push the boundaries of their art forms in the search for the truth.
I love watching her waiting for the kids. The joy, the gestures, etc. What a scene! 100% MOTHER. 🫂
R.I.P. Gena. One of the greatest of all time! 🖤
She's so beautiful. Before I knew of this film and her and John, I always found her so interesting, in her little Hollywood films I knew she had something, was so much more than a Hollywood beauty. Love this film, love her.
greatest actress of all time
I love you Gena. Thank you for everything.
This woman was a goddess among actors.
Brilliant, iconic and beautiful, was Gena Rowlands.
I just watched this on Criterion Channel, RIP Gena Rowlands
Wonderful actress. Always loved her performances. Bless her.
Performances don’t get better than this. I miss her already ❤️
Absolutely Brilliant.
A completely mesmerizing performance. I’m newly blown away each time I see it…RIP Ms. Rowlands, one of most beautiful and talented actresses ever.
Truly...I was taken aback watching this movie...don't miss it...😢🎉❤ We love you and miss you forever...
...movie ...WOMEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE...
What a performance! What an actress! RIP Gena.
This is the single greatest performance captured on film I've ever seen. I've seen plenty of great ones, but what Rowland does here is something beyond category. I know people say Brando. Dean. Clift. Pacino. DeNiro. Nicholson. Streep. I get it, those are big names, they cast huge shadows, but Rowland just smokes all of them in my opinion. She is the real GOAT.
Rowlands
This is maybe the most difficult film to watch that I know of - and I’m p versed in art film and mainstream film alike. If I ever can manage to produce something in any medium - literary fiction, film, theater - that approaches its astonishing truth in human character I could die fulfilled
That Rowlands is extraordinary and awe inspiring in this need not be repeated - it is, in my view, the single greatest screen performance in the history of American cinema.
Cassavetes, for his part, had a granular, sub-atomic level of understanding of human life, and the confidence and artistic courage to let it play out, unadorned, rigorously purged of anything sentimental or cliche or dishonest. I’ve still not seen Love Streams, but every one of his films I’ve seen, namely all but that one, is a masterpiece. When Rowlands died, I couldn’t contain my tears. She lived to be very old so it wasn’t so much grief but just thinking and conjuring the mesmeric beauty and raw, fully human intensity she brought to the screen. Can’t overstate how much this film affected, afflicted, and inflected me - on a core deep personal level but also appeared like a mandate. My writing is very stylistically and thematically different but on getting into Cassavetes, I revisited the lions share of my fictional work and, I hope successfully enough, scrubbed and scraped out any whisper of bullshit, of laziness, of moments in which the work deviates from its internal logic or characters speak or behave in ways that they would not.
Thank you, Rowlands, Cassavetes, and Falk
Fantastic, RIP to one of the greats.
Peter Falk speaking to the neighbors: "She's just unusual!". Gena was a classy, boss-lady we all miss very much.
RIP, darling, the patron saint of actors! 😢💙
RIP beautiful Gena
We lost one of the GREATS! RIP Dear Lady! Thank you for everything you gave to us mortals. How fabulous you are. 💙💙💙💙💙💙
we will miss her
Rest in Peace, Gena Rowlands, you'll be forever missed. Thank you for always making me cry in "The Notebook."
She was the real deal…💖
Opening night is another great Cassavetes and Rowlands film which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it.
Gena should have been Oscar nominated for Opening Night as well.
Love Gena. Loved her in Another Woman-the first film I saw her.
we will miss you gena. thank you for being one of the best.
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE! ❤️
R.i.p Geena ❤ the most beautiful actress ever
Queen.
R.I.P., Gena. A Woman Under The Influence, Light Of Day and The Skeleton Key are the three films that I remember you the most for.
The best actress ever
Gena is the GOAT
Gena Rowlands’ performance in A Woman Under the Influence offers a profoundly moving exploration of emotional instability and societal pressures, with Peter Falk’s grounded presence beautifully complementing her unraveling. Together, they craft an authentic, raw study of human fragility and complex relational dynamics. Alongside Faces, the film captures something uniquely liminal-an intimate space between chaos and connection.
I'm aware nobody asked for my opinion but there it is nevertheless 🌈
This film has been a nagging blind spot for me, and I was thinking about finally watching it just a couple weeks ago. When the sad news about Gena broke I knew I had to rectify this blind spot soon. I watched it last night (Sunday) and couldn’t take my eyes off her. What a powerhouse. What a loss.
I love her!! What an actress!!
I'd had this one on my wish list for a while, and I finally got it in my most recent Criterion haul. I watched it for the first time tonight. I now see what all the hubbub is about. I was blown away by both leading roles. Top drawer acting. Peter Falk's role reminded me a bit of Joe Pesci's performance in "Raging Bull".
Hard at times to watch, cause that's how good she is.
Amazing. RIP Gena.
She was extraordinary.
my favorite movie
Best cinematic depiction of schizophrenia
😊😊😊😊😊😊great
No exaggeration to say that those who did not see Gena Rowlands's performances in Woman Under The Influence and Opening Night hardly know what film acting can really be.
Farewell to an acting genius. Farewell Gena.
I have never seen this movie that I know of. Heard about it from actress Michelle Stafford post & I would like to see it sometime. Wow she was such a beautiful lady! I have only ever seen her on "Hope Floats", "The Notebook" & "The Skeleton Key" & I loved her in all 3 & thought she was beautiful. I would like to see some of her earlier days work. Rest in peace, beautiful lady.
Only watching this movie for the first time tonight .. better late than never, but .. fuckin hell! She's unbelievable!!
These two actors are obviously close and it allows them to go where they need to go in the scene
One of the GOATs performances:
No particular order:
1) Gena Rowlands in 'Woman under influence'
2) Isabelle Huppert 'The Piano Teacher'
3) Daniel Day lewis 'There will be blood'
4) Cate Blanchett 'Tar'
I would like to add Toni Collette in "Hereditary" and Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Didn't wanna cry today but okay
same
you and i both 🥹🥹
R.I.P
master acting class
Maravilhoso filme
one of a kind...rest in peace
The best
Painful and revelatory stuff.
Thanks,may many more folks invest in this film journey.
❤❤❤
😢
R.I.P. Gena!
Wow! I just watched the original Gloria (which was pretty bad) again for the first time in over 40 years off a tangent related to the theme song for MaXXXine by Laura Branagan, who also sang the song "Gloria". Ms. Rowlands did some great work and lived a long full life. I'll have to watch this one again. I sometimes think of lines from this seminal film.
i like the film "gloria"!
@@marcyfan-tz4wj I wanted to like it, but there were so many logic flaws that it became increasingly ridiculous. The emotional growth aspect of her character was also not believable, and the melodramatic music did not make up for it. Sure, the kid was very good. Maybe even a genius actor, but even that didn't make up for all the flaws. It seemed like a lazy bit of writing from Cassavetes (what little dialog he did actually write). It's like he thought he didn't even need to try after all his previously acclaimed work.
@@GCKelloch i enjoyed her performance in "gloria" just as i've enjoyed shelley duvall's performances in films i've rewatched recently because there won't be anymore.
@@marcyfan-tz4wj Well, I guess she did what she could with a substandard script, and a young costar who lacked the experience to adequately respond to her cues. Granted, he had a good idea of what to say and do (I assume some of his lines were improvised), but his delivery/timing was not yet developed. I'm not really faulting her performance. It's the film I was disappointed with. I'd give it maybe 2.5 stars.
@@GCKelloch fair enough. i try to watch half the movies made since 1914 and even though i fail at my mission, something that entertains me and has a star that i'm fond of keeps me from getting bogged down on how much better it could have been.
❤💔❤️💔❤️💔❤️💔❤️💔
So this is why we never saw Mrs. Columbo, in spite of all those times the lieutenant mentioned her in conversation.
❤️
so the Academy saw this and they said: "yeah no oscar for her lol"
❤️🔥🌌😍👑
🤍🤍🤍 rip
First Gena, and now Alain, the stars are vanishing
They're just going home.
I'm tempted to buy the Criterion boxed set of John Cassavetes films (5 Films), but I've never seen any of his films including this one. Should I buy it anyway?
YES.
She lost the Oscar for this to Ellen burtysen in Alice doesn’t live here anymore. Even Ellen was like she should’ve won !
Cassavetes.
This is such a brutal and emotionally uncomfortable film to watch
what i always found so important about Gena's performance here, and the general setup, is that it portrays the schizo affective image of Lucille Ball's whole act and turns it on its head. The family setup is even the same. But there is no laugh track and the aesthetic is all to real, and it's horrifying and really sad. A woman under the influence (of the cultural image of the mother), and she's short-circuiting because of it.
Regi.
There are no actresses like this anymore. The new ones are too vain, shallow, self involved, and lack the courage to stick it all on the line and DO IT
man
love zoe kravitz and some guy
I liked Gena Rowlands' more recent stuff, i.e. "Skelton Key", "Hope Floats". In watching a memorial video, many people praised this performance so I clicked. Greatly disappointed. I still amazed at how much white people love over praising themselves. I don't find this to be good acting or the character to be believable. Angela Bassett in "What's Love Got to Do with It."; Margaret Avery in "The Color Purple"; Alfre Woodard in "Holiday Heart". I could name a hundred other Black female artist performances that far exceed this malarkey.
@@HeatherHotcakes How can you judge that by a 2 minute clip from a film? I'm brown and sorry to burst your bubble, It's not about race or skin colour. Her performance is universally praised by cinema lovers all over the world, not just white people and is considered one of the greatest performances of all time.
@@namaankhan8306 Really? Find me 1 non-American or European review of praise. Also, everyone else is using this 2 minute clip to offer her praises. So, I’m justified in using this limited video to arrive at a different conclusion. If you are trying to sell me on the belief that there is no discrimination in the film industry and the views of how whites perceive people of color then I will assume that you are mentally ill and encourage you to seek therapy. As a African American woman, I have zero interest in pretending that the world is fair and that if I just shut up and pray then peace will come. That’s the old generation of Blacks. We’re not appeasing whites anymore.
She is one helluva great actress.
❤❤❤❤