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This article was originally published on July 31, 2024.
Were republishing it with thenews of Gena Rowlands death.
Rowlands was disinterested in neat conclusions, tidy fictions, anything that wasnt entirely honest.
Across her filmography, Rowlands performed with a fluidity that seemed closer to real-life behavior than to movie acting.
Even that role inThe Notebook.
Rowlandss character, lovelorn and aimless, is whats left over when wild romance inevitably fails.
The parting scene between her and Douglas is no doubt the films best.
As she kisses her cowboy good-bye, her composure crumbles and gives way to an almost unbearable tenderness.
Cassavetess twitchy handheld camera searches restlessly around each scene before settling on Rowlandss face.
grain, you find something daring and devastating in Rowlandss eyes.
Rowlandss performance inFacesis like a challenge to look at someones soul without flinching.
Its proof that she can dominate a film with her face alone and what a face it is.
Movies are a conspiracy, she says motionlessly.
Its with the arrival of Moskowitz that the film then takes a turn toward the erratic.
Every crack in Rowlandss voice, every earsplitting inflection, every bizarre gesture is a masterstroke of acting genius.
Watching it is like witnessing a terrible miracle.
She goes off-kilter completely when shes told that her character will be slapped onstage.
She walks off and appears at the plays titular opening-night blind drunk.
Here, we see Rowlands at her most vaudevillian, each of her movements highly unpredictable and ticlike.
Gloriawas a screenplay Cassavetes sold to Universal to help fund his more experimental films.
The film is all gun-toting, door-busting, gallivanting action.
What is creativity, Robert?
Is cooking an art?
Is love an art?
Sarah asks him, her hand gestures as delicate as Tai Chis.
What happens when lines become tangled and communication breaks down entirely?
Another Womanis Allen at his most turgid and Bergmanesque which might explain its lack of viewership.
Unlike the wild and loose characters she played under Cassavetes, as Marion she is finicky and fastidious.
Its microscopic and brilliant.
A lesser actress might have come across as matronly in this role, but Rowlands is just too fabulous.
What was once just uncomfortable to watch is now heartbreaking.
