Cassavetes' best known film garnered Academy Award nominationsfor Best Director, and Best Actress for Gena Rowlands' bravura performance as the housewife whose egois vanquished by the double binds of family life. Michael Ventura writes: "...In Faces and Husbands, peoplegot crazy for short bursts but they didn't go mad. Instead, with a resigned and even defeated air, theytended to return to the same repressed state that had driven them nuts in the first place. But in A WomanUnder the Influence, Gena Rowlands' Mabel Longhetti is both desperate and courageous enough not to pullback from madness, but to go all the way over into a state of mind that confronts every assumption of herlife with Nick (Peter Falk). Perhaps it is this underlying sense of Mabel's intention that makes Rowlands andCassavetes say they have never considered Mabel insane. She's just, to use Gena's word, 'wacko.' Meaningthat Mabel has her own way of seeing the world, and has a right to insist on the validity of her vision. AgainCassavetes uses his unique filmcraft to head us off at the pass...Our viewpoint is that of a relative, or oneof her kids: there's no escape from the crisis. That's what family trouble means, and Cassavetes won'tpretend otherwise with comfortable cuts and scene changes. Yet even in her worst pain, Mabel possesses atranscendent beauty that can't help but open our hearts. Again like her family, we love her, whichcompletes Cassavetes' point...love costs, love demands, but its cost and demands are almost welcome asproof that profound love exists..." Note: A Woman Under the Influence is repeatedSaturday, November 4 at 9:05.