I was actually quite torn about A Woman Under the Influence on a personal level. I am a recovered manic-depressive who have worked 5+ years in social psychiatric living institutions for the mentally ill and am now working as a research assistent on a research project on the criminally insane. I did not like it when i saw it back in 2014 but i am sure my perception of it will improve on a re-watch. At the time i thought it was degrading and demeaning towards the mentally ill, but i am not in a similar place (mentally) today, so i would probably hold a new view if it, if i saw it today.
A quick top 5 would be:
1. Love Streams (1984)
2. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
3. Opening Night (1977)
4. Faces (1968)
5. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Though my favorite movie with Cassavetes is certainly Rosemary's baby which i adore. One of the best paranoia thrillers / horrors out there, even if its made by Polanski.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie does seem to be one that stands out reputation-wise. I think "paranoid thriller" is a good way to describe Rosemary's Baby. I like to think of a true horror film in the purest sense, being an extremely rare thing that actually makes you feel a profoundly intense fear such as The Exorcist or Alien. Rosemary's Baby wasn't terrifying so much as anxious and creepy. They captured well the stress of being told you're delusional and imagining things when everything you're saying is true to the point where you even start to question what you know to be true. But I liked A Woman Under the Influence more because the acting was so much more realistic in a lot of subtle ways. I think I can understand what you mean about not liking the way the mental illness was portrayed, but I think that's part of what makes it so great. It's a kind of unapologetic realism that shows something about life that many people may not actually want to see. I think it takes a lot of courage and understanding to show those things authentically. Life isn't clear-cut, it's full of dilemmas and is incredibly complex. In A Woman Under the Influence I just saw people struggling in life, and that was so real to me. There were a lot of other subtleties that added to the realism, like the length of pauses when you couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the telephone line. Most films wouldn't pause that long for fear of boring the audience. But it's really about the relationship between a man who loves his wife, who herself really needs help, and just because someone goes to the hospital and supposedly gets help doesn't mean they're in the clear, and that sense of her own responsibility. She wasn't just an innocent victim. It wasn't about right and wrong, innocent and victim, it was more about the whole dilemma from conflicting perspectives. I really do need to watch it again myself though as it's a bit hazy.
Your line of work sounds really interesting. I won't pry, but I myself have been working as a social worker at a homeless shelter for a little over 6 years now. I work with addicts and the mentally ill every day, and I love them. I tell them not to beat themselves up if they relapse and just take life one step at a time. When I see them upset, muttering to themselves, and tossing their hands in the air, I go ask them what's wrong, and I don't settle for the first, "Nothing." I ask gently with empathy and say, "It seems like something is bothering you," and find out what exactly it is, if there is anything I can do to solve the problem, or if I can cheer them up. I've seen people over the years improve in their mental health, and a huge part of that is loneliness. Not having anyone to talk to, nothing to do, no fun or happiness in their life, and so if I can I bring that to them. I ask them about their life and listen, follow up and really care, and it's so much fun. They're just people and I don't care if they are addicted to drugs, went to prison, have schizophrenia or what. One guy told me that he was one of the six angels along with Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer. He said a lot of nonsense that I couldn't understand, but he also talked about how a person walks from one point to another and thinks it's just empty space they're walking through, but it's not. It's full of tiny particles and the planet is constantly moving through space and at any point God can just close that space and you won't be able to walk through it. I thought that made a lot of sense. Now he's stable on meds that balance him, and he's more normal, but I talked to him about that and he remembered it and reiterated the point. Even when someone is uttering seeming nonsense there's reason behind it and a real person who's intelligent and understands what's going on.
I think movies like A Woman Under the Influence resonate with me because of how much they understand about life, and you can see it in so many implicit ways.
I feel like I'm being way too introspective and long-winded. I want to relate and understand what you meant about feeling like it was demeaning towards the mentally ill. Actually, I think it was demeaning, but in an intentional way. Not that the movie itself was demeaning them, but that it was showing how people demean them, like for example how she came back from the hospital and they really didn't effectively help her. And how her husband couldn't relate to her. She didn't get the help she needed, and that was tragic. But she wasn't just an innocent victim, she was a culprit too. I think the movie was exploring a very real and difficult struggle that for some people is their daily life.
By the way, totally unrelated, but have you seen Noi Albanoi? I think you'd love it, but I bet you've already seen it. It's just the most excited I've been over a film recently.