I recently saw for the second time the Paul Mazursky film "Willie and Phil" and wrote about it here. (The first time was when it came out in 1980.) I wrote that I found it less satisfying than "An Unmarried Woman." Now I've watched "An Unmarried Woman" for the first time in a few years - I've probably seen it five times - and I believe I've finally outgrown it. I think one of the reasons I didn't enjoy it so much any more is that I live in New York where the film is set and it's hard for me to get involved in a story about a WASP who went to Vassar and lives in a high-rise apartment on the Upper East Side.
The film is about that kind of traditional person whose life turns upside down and she discovers something more meaningful. She even (apparently) moves out of the apartment into what seems to be a townhouse on the ground level with a backyard. And she discovers her independence. But I still find the movie not as involving and satisfying as I did at one time. Maybe because the filmmaker doesn't allow her to go as deep into a non-traditional life as one would like.
Perhaps I was always excited about this movie because it was released the year I moved to New York, and I was charged about the move. Now, it's just nostalgia for a kind of New York that has disappeared. Certainly there are plenty of traditional bores on the Upper East Side, but SoHo hardly looks the same, since it's become a metrosexual shopping mall.
From a feminist point of view the movie seems to be about a woman who, through circumstances beyond her control, is brought down to her basics and survives. Hitchcock did this with Tallulah Bankhead in "Lifeboat" (Tallulah's hair comes down, literally and figuratively) but of course Hitch was a sadist and Mazursky is interested in something more wistful and human. I do believe Mazursky's heart is in the right place.
In spite of the movie's flaws, it has some memorable scenes and performances, and I got a little misty-eyed a couple of times. It was Jill Clayburgh's greatest professional moment.
The film is about that kind of traditional person whose life turns upside down and she discovers something more meaningful. She even (apparently) moves out of the apartment into what seems to be a townhouse on the ground level with a backyard. And she discovers her independence. But I still find the movie not as involving and satisfying as I did at one time. Maybe because the filmmaker doesn't allow her to go as deep into a non-traditional life as one would like.
Perhaps I was always excited about this movie because it was released the year I moved to New York, and I was charged about the move. Now, it's just nostalgia for a kind of New York that has disappeared. Certainly there are plenty of traditional bores on the Upper East Side, but SoHo hardly looks the same, since it's become a metrosexual shopping mall.
From a feminist point of view the movie seems to be about a woman who, through circumstances beyond her control, is brought down to her basics and survives. Hitchcock did this with Tallulah Bankhead in "Lifeboat" (Tallulah's hair comes down, literally and figuratively) but of course Hitch was a sadist and Mazursky is interested in something more wistful and human. I do believe Mazursky's heart is in the right place.
In spite of the movie's flaws, it has some memorable scenes and performances, and I got a little misty-eyed a couple of times. It was Jill Clayburgh's greatest professional moment.