Wow what a terrible mother and wife

Decided to watch this movie to see what all the fuss was about with Gena Rowlands in the 70s. Everyone said this was a tour de force performance. I was expecting original ideas and a story I could follow. I didn't get that.

Rowlands plays a trashy housewife who moonlights with other men while her husband is working construction, and her kids are sent to stay with Grandma. The opening scenes depict a woman who does a lot of booze, sleeps around, and doesn't seem to care much about her reputation. She picks some loser up in a bar after downing a few drinks, and before we know it she's sleeping with him back at her place, and calling him by her husband's name.

It was at this point my movie partner Helen and I realized Gena was reprising her role from The Notebook, which was oddly made 32 years later. So she's basically crazy with a Looking for Mr Goodbar complex. Big deal. Where was the compassion we were supposed to feel for her?

The treatments don't work. She's stubborn and wants everyone to take care of her. I would have filed for divorce.

Rowlands is the one reason to see the movie. She's great. It's just the story doesn't present us with much of a role model to look up to. Women, housewives, should be ladies. Not whores.

FINAL GRADE: C