A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Perhaps the film failed to engage me as it could have if every single couple/'parents' I ever dealt with in my circle of friends had parents that were far crazier and more violent and crazy than anything this couple did. My parents divorced when I was 8 and although my dad was always sane, sensible and calm, of course I didn't live with him, I lived with my mom who is potentially bipolar Anyway, I've visited friends houses and feared for my life numerous times. So a mom acting weird and a dad yelling didn't seem all that remarkable to me, and especially not for as long as this film went on. It finally got close to things I've experienced, but by the time, it was just...eh, just went on and on.

Solid but not necessarily difficult performances from Falk and Rowland, these are the kids of performances that are nuanced but relatively easy to perform well.

So, in what amounts to "stay together for the kids", but they decided to actually try to, as opposed to anyone I ever knew.

Just like Mouchette, where the girl's life was bad, but not as bad as my own life, and Aguirre: The Wrath of God, where the guy was definitely driven but not quite "crazy", the extremity of my own experience negative the power of the extremity of this experience. B- because it's not the film's fault. [#16 in my Nineteen of '74 (which was an unnaturally loaded year anyway]