Episode 9: A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Welcome back to Love Streams: The John Cassavetes Podcast! In this podcast, a filmmaker and a film studies scholar (who happen to be married to each other) unpack, marvel at, and puzzle over the movies directed by American filmmaker, John Cassavetes, one movie at a time.

This is it, folks. This is the episode you've been waiting for. It's time to dig into "A Woman Under the Influence," the one Cassavetes film that just about everyone has heard of. If you came to this podcast to hear about just one film, there's a good chance it's this one. So yean, no pressure on this episode, Allison and John!

I won't lie to you, friends. This was one tough epidsode for us to make! How do you even begin to wrap your head around a movie that's this complicated and prickly? But, we made it at least! Join the conversation as we talk (at times, in circles) about one of cinema's greatest and most ineffably mysterious films.

Highlights of this episode include:the TV show that financed this film, the many scripts that Cassavetes wrote before ultimately writing this particular script (and yes, this film had a script!), Swanny Swanson, Allison's bleak take on marriage and motherhood, Pauline Kael's hot takes, things you can hash out over a lunch, Stella Dallas, Cassavetes' bonafide strategy for exploiting film students, Allison's very succint review of "The Patriot," Robert Culp's glasses, the best speech that was ever given at an Oscar afterparty, labels, maternal sacrifice, genre talk, the irrelevance of who started it, important advice about which movie you should not show to a date, vampires of TV and film, Carol Gilligan, Allison's desire to hide under tables, reasons why you shouldn't let anyone into your house, reasons why you should never go over to anyone else's house, reasons why you should never answer the phone, and so much more.