John Cassavetes - A Woman Under the Influence (1974), 7/10

Cassavetes' seventh film, A Woman Under the Influence, is perhaps one of the more palpably emotional films to meet the screen, primarily stemming from its hyper-naturalistic visual presentation and character perspective, in addition to its performances, most clearly via Rowlands and Falk, but additionally in its secondary characters. The film is essentially presented in several different narrative acts, primarily delineated through Mabel's actions and shifts in personality, but also depend on Nick's volatile and sometimes unpredictable movements and reactions. The realism behind Mabel's mental illness is subject to interpretation, but this is partly what makes the story effective; the opaqueness of her character allows for audience interaction through interpretation, and her performance adds a sense of immersion with its uncomfortableness. The empathy we feel as an audience is spread across each character's relational experiences, whether this is Mabel, Nick, the children, the parents, the doctor, or any number of secondary characters, testing the limits of the audience and the emotional context we bring into each viewing.

Scenes such as the "spaghetti dinner" exemplify Cassevetes' strength in crafting an unprecedented range of affect while enhancing viewer feeling through creative cinematography. As we track Mabel and Nick's relationship across the threshold of Mabel's commitment, not only is their relationship clearly irrevocably damaged, but Nick continues to feel the effects of their separation through his interactions with his coworkers, extending the harm of Mabel's illness in the form of Eddie's injury during their very one-sided argument. Mabel is similarly trapped and underrepresented during her commitment, an experience we never witness, only viewing her depressingly inhibited return home. She is berated and mistreated from the onset of her return, attempts suicide, and eventually settles into bed with Nick, a form-returning experience that does not help us hope for her future. The film's narrative is defined by its naturalism and similarly through its postmodern take on mental illness, but its visual beauty, individual performances, and playfulness with both cinematography and character are what make it worth its weight among the greatest of films.