Overall Score
Rating Summary
In both film and in the theater there is a long tradition to have art imitate life. In the John Cassavetes film Opening Night this is pushed to its limit and then goes slightly beyond. As the star of both the fictional play and the film, Myrtle Gordon (Gina Rowlands) literally stumbles into frame drunk as can be. She is ready for her big performance in “The Second Woman” in its pre-broadway debut. As she fumbles through her lines but still manages to make it to the final curtain she is greeted with a standing ovation. She is rushed to her car on the rainy night, and is bombarded by fans. One in particular is eerily obsessed with her, much in the way other unbalanced people confused actors with the roles they played in soap operas. When the young fan follows the car as it pulls away, she is struck by another car and is killed. The accident sends Gordon on a downward spiral mixed with alcohol and a fractured mind all leading to the opening night of her play.
Written and directed by Cassavetes, this drama/quasi-horror film wrestles with several ideas. That of the blurred line between art and reality, fame, and the lengths to achieve a legacy. Rowlands puts herself through the ringer for this role, where most of the film she is meant to be drunk or getting there shortly. Her confrontations with the men in her life both on stage and off seem to tear at her soul. And her relationship with other women isn’t much better. Every scene she goes head to head with Sarah Goode (Joan Blondell) is uncomfortable and intense. Ben Gazzara as Manny also holds his own against Rowlands Myrtle as he is constantly pushing his ideas of art to her as she struggles with more than just his play.
What I find so fascinating about Cassavetes style is it’s so so so loose. Some scenes feel like they are going on forever and the cast is running out things to say. Then there are moments where they really start to take off and the scene is about to go somewhere and suddenly it cuts to the next scene. Maybe I need to see more of his films, but the jarring nature pulled me out at times and it was difficult to stay with. It is however all about Rowlands and what she brings, it truly is her stage and everyone is just nipping and picking around her as she stumbles, gears up and then crumbles under the weight of her own psyche. I do love the way it’s shot, as at times we are so in Rowlands face, she is turning away and we only see her hair and a blurred image of her face. It really lends to the nature of her slowly unraveling. It’s a powerhouse of a performance and it is the epitome of indie cinema of the late 70’s.
SOST: While this film certainly was swallowed whole by Star Wars, Cassavetes next film also had the unfortunate luck of being overshadowed by The Empire Strikes Back with his 1980 film Gloria also starring Rowlands. This was one I watched on cable a lot as a kid. I remember enjoying it because the kid in the film dressed like me when I was that age, it had a woman outsmarting a bunch of thugs, something I’m sure I had not seen before then and I also really loved the ending.
