In "Opening Night" (1977), Gena Rowlands plays Myrtle Gordon, an actress who, while rehearsing a play that is in previews in New Haven, begins to completely unravel. After witnessing the tragic accident of a fan seeking an autograph (in a scene that was later mimicked by Pedro Almodovar in "All About My Mother"), she is forced to confront the emptiness and lonliness of her life as she, like the character she is playing on-stage, slowly drips past middle-age and tips towards the bottle. Directed by her husband, John Cassavettes (just like "A Woman Under the Influence" and a host of other films), he also has a role as her co-star in the play-within-the-film. His direction here is fluid, unobtrusive and solemn, never shying away from some of the uglier aspects of Myrtle's life and personality, yet allowing the character to shine when it feels like she's earned it.
Rowlands has shown time and again that she is not afraid to drop the glamour and really get ugly for a performance. "Opening Night" is certainly no exception. There are points in this film where she looks gorgeous and others where she looks like she's been sleeping in a gutter for a couple days which works for a character who is trying to maintain some semblence of star power and prestige as she is crumbling inside. It's probably some of Rowlands' best work and, at times, feels far more real than just a movie.
What I haven't heard mentioned in several reviews for "Opening Night" is that the play-with-the-film entitled, 'The Second Woman' is uniformly AWFUL! It makes no sense, has very little through-line, has an opening scene that seems as if it should come somewhere near the end and closes on perhaps one of the dumbest lines/gestures I've ever seen on stage or in a film. If Joan Blondell's character (Sarah Goode, the playwright) were a little less confident about this supposedly brilliant play she's written, I would've bought things a bit more, but they all acted like it was fucking Chekhov. With that said, however, Blondell's supporting performance is excellent.
Watch out for the Peter Falk/Peter Bogdonavich cameos towards the end. This would be a great companion piece with "Another Woman" (1988) in which Gena Rowlands has come to a similar crossroads, questioning her life choices.
Edited By flipp525 on 1248801858
Gena Rowlands in Opening Night
--Reza wrote:--flipp525 wrote:.... but her work in 1988's Another Woman stands among her best and suffered the fate of being in a crowded, very good field for female lead actresses.
Yes what a great performance. Would be great if she were given a career Oscar.
I couldn´t agree more! Gena Rowlands deserves an Honorary Oscar.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1248807343
What a perennially ignored performer. Although she was rightfully acknowledged by the Academy for her outstanding tour-de-force in A Woman Under the Influence and her genre-bending work in Gloria, there are just as many times she has been unduly ignored. I haven't seen Opening Night, but her work in 1988's Another Woman stands among her best and suffered the fate of being in a crowded, very good field for female lead actresses.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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