Essential Arthouse: A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Although wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage. (R, 155 min.)
Showtimes
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
7:00 PM
Essential Arthouse 2026
Nominated for multiple Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes (and taking home her share of wins), Gena Rowlands is a legend forever. Charting Rowlands’s transformation as “Mabel” from endearingly kooky to bleakly incoherent (and back again), John Cassavetes's A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE is perhaps the most important examination of mental health ever captured onscreen. Cassavetes observes the ricochets between Mabel’s health and her in-laws’s “influence." But at the heart of this film is her relationship with her conservative husband (an equally amazing Peter Falk), who struggles in vain to pull Mabel out of her decline. Both tough-as-bricks and delicate, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE goes straight for the throat. [AGFA]
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes
Director: John Cassavetes
Genre: Drama, Romance
"Perhaps the greatest of Cassavetes' films."
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"John Cassavetes’s films were born out of emotional truth."
— Derek Smith, Slant Magazine
"A Woman Under The Influence is a treat for serious film lovers."
— Staff, Eye for Film
"An astonishing, compulsive film, directed with a crackling energy."
— David Pirie, Time Out
"Rowlands gives a harrowing performance as a housewife coming unhinged."
— Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
"One of the rawest, toughest, most emotionally scalding portraits of a marriage ever put on screen."
— Tim Robey, The Telegraph
"His most devastating film to date, it proves Cassavetes is a master of sensitivity, intimacy and passion on the screen."
— Jacoba Atlas, Los Angeles Free Press
"An exceptional film anchored by love and set alight with the unpredictability of mental health, this is a must for Cassavetes fans and newcomers alike."
— Patrick Gamble, CineVue
"Gena Rowlands gives a career-defining tour de force performance that is a pinnacle of film-acting in an earth-shattering film that is unlike any other ever made."
— Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
"His unsparing actors' tour de force (Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk at their career peaks) reveals just how much today's Sundance family dramas owe to indie movement founder John Cassavetes."
— David Lamble, Bay Area Reporter
"Falk and Rowlands -- in performances of almost indescribable intensity -- detail a marriage anchored by love, but tossed by the expectations of others and the unpredictable swell of madness."
— Keith Phipps, AV Club
"[A Woman Under the Influence is] John Cassavetes’s 1974 masterpiece, and one of the best films of its decade... It’s one of those extremely rare movies that seem found rather than made, in which the internal dynamics of the drama are completely allowed to dictate the shape and structure of the film."
— Dave Kehr, Reader
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