Fun with Nick and Mabel.
November 13, 2008 5:42 AM Subscribe
In Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence, why do Mabel (Gina Rowlands) and Nick (Peter Falk) sleep in a foldaway sofa bed in the dining room?
Nick and Mabel appear to live in a large, rambling house, judging from the few exterior shots in the movie. Yet their nighttime ritual is bizarre: After the kids are bedded down in a small room upstairs, they move the heavy dining room table to the back of the room, in front of the bathroom (whose door sports a large sign reading "private"). Then, they remove throwpillows, fold out the sofa into a double bed, and settle down to a night of sleep. In their dining room.
This is where the couple sleeps and frolics. It's where Nick catches a nap after an all-nighter, only to be disturbed by whomever visits through the adjacent front door.
Now, I sense that the peculiar bedding arrangement might be used by Cassavetes to underscore the isolation of the couple from their children at the top of the stairs. Also, stairs are frequently a site of fights, arguments, and dramatic plot shifts in Cassavetes' films. Maybe the sleeping arrangement is a ploy to inject a larger number of stairway scenes into the movie.
But the logistics of the couple's bedroom arrangement are strange, given the expansiveness of the house. A large livingroom looms across the foyer. Why not sleep there, if a master bedroom is unavailable?
Nick and Mabel appear to live in a large, rambling house, judging from the few exterior shots in the movie. Yet their nighttime ritual is bizarre: After the kids are bedded down in a small room upstairs, they move the heavy dining room table to the back of the room, in front of the bathroom (whose door sports a large sign reading "private"). Then, they remove throwpillows, fold out the sofa into a double bed, and settle down to a night of sleep. In their dining room.
This is where the couple sleeps and frolics. It's where Nick catches a nap after an all-nighter, only to be disturbed by whomever visits through the adjacent front door.
Now, I sense that the peculiar bedding arrangement might be used by Cassavetes to underscore the isolation of the couple from their children at the top of the stairs. Also, stairs are frequently a site of fights, arguments, and dramatic plot shifts in Cassavetes' films. Maybe the sleeping arrangement is a ploy to inject a larger number of stairway scenes into the movie.
But the logistics of the couple's bedroom arrangement are strange, given the expansiveness of the house. A large livingroom looms across the foyer. Why not sleep there, if a master bedroom is unavailable?
Maybe, on some level, it's to suggest a certain complicity between them? There could be a million reasons why they maintain this setup, and the viewer isn't privy to it, but...it demonstrates that they are together, in weirdness, so to speak?
For example, maybe this was how their first apartment was setup, and they feel happier just maintaining this setup in the house. It might be more about WHY they do it, rather than WHAT they do.
posted by Richat at 10:23 AM on November 13, 2008
For example, maybe this was how their first apartment was setup, and they feel happier just maintaining this setup in the house. It might be more about WHY they do it, rather than WHAT they do.
posted by Richat at 10:23 AM on November 13, 2008
Best answer: I think its actually the opposite of what you suggest: not that they are isolated from their children, but they have no privacy. Their most private of spaces is completely public; the sign on the bathroom designates it - not the bedroom - as the only "private" place in the house. Its been a long time since I saw the movie, but I also seem to recall a lot instances in which people are tramping through their house - e.g., their bedroom. Finally, the movie is about the progressive exposure and exteriorization of Mabel's - and, to a lesser extent, Nick's - internal demons and mental illness. They do not even have the privacy of their own minds, much less their own bedroom.
Of course, this doesn't answer the practical question that you raise - e.g., how can have no other option for sleeping arrangements. The answer to that is, I imagine, "because its fiction, not documentary."
posted by googly at 10:29 AM on November 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
Of course, this doesn't answer the practical question that you raise - e.g., how can have no other option for sleeping arrangements. The answer to that is, I imagine, "because its fiction, not documentary."
posted by googly at 10:29 AM on November 13, 2008 [1 favorite]
I can't find any proof that my hypothesis is true but was the movie based on a stage play? It seems like the kind of thing one would do in a limited-set stage environment, putting all the action in one room.
posted by GuyZero at 4:07 PM on November 17, 2008
posted by GuyZero at 4:07 PM on November 17, 2008
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posted by Manhasset at 5:49 AM on November 13, 2008 [1 favorite]