#253 A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. John Cassavetes 1974

Possession(s) The Exorcist (1973) may be a horrific allegory of internal demons, subsumed existential doubts, and the resultant contemporary religious angsts of faith, but this story of a woman possessed by her own psychological and pharmacological demons, who is in turn a possession herself (of her husband, her children, and of the predominant medical and social …

#740 THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1972

Mannequin, martinet, weeping rock. What Fassbinder has presented to us yet again is a social study in free-will. Each woman in this film has a choice; here are no constraints except those created in the mind, or by tacit social contracts. Although of course Fassbinder creates very unconventional contracts. In 1894 Kate Chopin wrote a …

#705 BREAKING THE WAVES Lars von Trier 1996

  "She's not right in the 'ead!"   "Come on.  She just wants it all." It takes a community to raise a child. Often it takes one to kill her as well. A powerful Lars von Trier treatment of that most sacred bond, the love between two people. It could even have precedence over all …

#614 SUMMER WITH MONIKA Ingmar Bergman 1953 (some spoilers here)

The boys, from Truffaut's 400 Blows,  are admiring a pin-up of Monika, a bit of meta-praise from one master to another, and a succinct summary of the film's key energy.  "All of Bergman's films are but a manifestation of his theatrical eye," is what I said in writing about Sawdust and Tinsel.  Summer With Monika is no …