Frank & Eleanor Perry's masterpiece of middle class angst stars Carrie Snodgress as a well-healed housewife dealing with the trials and tribulations of a horrendous life. Married to an idiotic, social climbing culture vulture and saddled with two impossibly bratty children, Snodgress seeks solace in an empty affair with a insanely callous writer. The acting is absolutely brilliant, not only by Snodgress but by Frank Langella as the writer and by Richard Benjamin as the nitwit husband. Benjamin does his best work here -- perfect in every way blaming his wife for all of his many flaws. Snodgress, who was Oscar nominated and became a star with this role, gives what has become a legendary performance. The unforgiving script is by Eleanor Perry & it's never made clear if what we're seeing (and hearing) is in Snodgress's mind, which may very well be warping things considering just how brutally she's treated by these two men. The tightly wound direction is by Frank Perry. Gerald Hirschfeld did the cinematography and the astounding production design is by Peter Dohanos. With Peter Boyle (briefly), Katherine Meskill and Lorraine Cullen as Sylvie, one of Snodgress's very bitchy daughters. One of the best and least appreciated films of the 1970s.
Review of Diary of a Mad Housewife
