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Released
1974 · FILM

A Woman Under the Influence

A volatile housewife desperate for love battles her own unraveling mind, forcing her blue‑collar husband to choose between institutionalizing her and preserving his fractured family.

“A woman of today, her world, her passions.”

Directed by
John Cassavetes
Written by
John Cassavetes
Rated
MPA · R
Runtime
155 min
DramaRomance
Streaming on
  • The Criterion Channel

Synopsis

Mabel Longhetti, a woman struggling with loneliness and desperation, is married to Nick, a municipal construction worker in Los Angeles. As her emotional instability intensifies, particularly in social settings, she becomes increasingly erratic. Her unpredictable behavior leads Nick to believe she is a threat to their family, prompting him to have her committed to an institution for six months. Left to care for their three children alone, Nick waits for her return, unaware that it will bring unexpected developments.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 38

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by David ArmstrongScored by Bo Harwood

Box Office

1974 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 12× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$12.2M

Budget$1.0M
Worldwide gross$12.2M
break-even (2.5×)

Also known as

  • Eine Frau unter Einflussde
  • Eine Frau unter Einflußde
  • Una mujer bajo la influenciaes
  • Une femme sous influencefr
  • Una moglieit

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