An actress (Gena Rowlands) suffers an emotional uproar in her personal life after a fan dies trying to see her.
The play-within-a-play device does not always work, and can sometimes lead to confusion. Here, it works precisely because it leads to a degree of confusion. When does the acting stop and the real living begin? Does the acting ever stop?
Cassavetes and Rowlands are powerful actors, and adding Ben Gazzara to the mix never hurts (he truly deserves to be better known, not just as a seedy character actor). The film is haunting, and it looks at aging in an entirely different way than anyone has before.
The play-within-a-play device does not always work, and can sometimes lead to confusion. Here, it works precisely because it leads to a degree of confusion. When does the acting stop and the real living begin? Does the acting ever stop?
Cassavetes and Rowlands are powerful actors, and adding Ben Gazzara to the mix never hurts (he truly deserves to be better known, not just as a seedy character actor). The film is haunting, and it looks at aging in an entirely different way than anyone has before.