An Unmarried Woman
As the poster says, an abandoned woman gives us every possible reaction…yet somehow she remains ill-defined…and fairly unsympathetic. When Alan Bates shows up, the energy should pick up, but it’s then that cliché takes over, boredom sets in, and the filmmakers try to have it every which way (don’t give up on men; assert your independence; receive praise from the man for doing so; perhaps visit him occasionally). The director is trying his best to give us a “woman’s picture”, but somehow one cannot help but feel that what dominates is his perspective.
I’ve watched three of Mazursky’s films in two days (the others being BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE and the far superior NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE), and in all three there is a male character who, confronted with actual or potential infidelity, tells his partner, in a kind of theatrical display that mixes anger and irony, that he will have to kill her: to me, this repetition seems to indicate that beneath a kind of intellectual, “self-aware” veneer, there is really a pretty conventional if not old-fashioned male sexual self-conception at work, and that this film is set up to secretly confirm its virtue. While each of the main trio are entitled to their moments of self-justification, ultimately we are shown a woman who learns that her weak husband is no good and that the better alternative is a man who combines romantic tendencies with a willingness to engage in fisticuffs with boorish males to defend her honour. This setup is the real engine of the story Mazursky wants to tell. Easily the best scene is the long one with (actual psychotherapist) Penelope Russianoff.
I’ve watched three of Mazursky’s films in two days (the others being BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE and the far superior NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE), and in all three there is a male character who, confronted with actual or potential infidelity, tells his partner, in a kind of theatrical display that mixes anger and irony, that he will have to kill her: to me, this repetition seems to indicate that beneath a kind of intellectual, “self-aware” veneer, there is really a pretty conventional if not old-fashioned male sexual self-conception at work, and that this film is set up to secretly confirm its virtue. While each of the main trio are entitled to their moments of self-justification, ultimately we are shown a woman who learns that her weak husband is no good and that the better alternative is a man who combines romantic tendencies with a willingness to engage in fisticuffs with boorish males to defend her honour. This setup is the real engine of the story Mazursky wants to tell. Easily the best scene is the long one with (actual psychotherapist) Penelope Russianoff.
Mini Review: An abandoned woman gives us every possible reaction…yet somehow she remains ill-defined…and fairly unsympathetic. When Bates shows up, the energy should pick up, but it’s then that cliché takes over, boredom sets in, and the filmmakers try to have it every which way (don’t give up on men; assert your independence; receive praise from the man for doing so; perhaps visit him occasionally). A stab at a “woman’s picture”, but somehow one cannot help but feel that what dominates is his perspective.
Watch the Trailer