The similarities to "Martin" are hard for me to ignore, although I agree with the general consensus that "Martin" is the better movie. That said, unlike, say, Polanski, with his broken, neurotic subjects, Romero is "forward" enough to give us a subject- here, an almost middle-aged woman- who is variously bored, inquisitive, angry, repulsed, attracted -- and yet curiously inscrutable on a very fundamental level. That is why (as in "Martin") the ending comes rather unexpectedly, and in ways that cause us to rethink everything we learned up to that point.
This is not quite the "bored housewife" routine. Rather, Romero is giving us a view of the dissolution of the middle class as it had been known in parts of America up to that point: Good Catholic homeowners with traditional social roles confronting the upheaval of the age. And the fear, confusion and opportunity it presented are all here on display. It wears its time (early 70s) in obvious ways. But Jan White's performance is remarkably contemporary: she is steely and strangely confident through it all, even when events confuse or frighten.
This is not quite the "bored housewife" routine. Rather, Romero is giving us a view of the dissolution of the middle class as it had been known in parts of America up to that point: Good Catholic homeowners with traditional social roles confronting the upheaval of the age. And the fear, confusion and opportunity it presented are all here on display. It wears its time (early 70s) in obvious ways. But Jan White's performance is remarkably contemporary: she is steely and strangely confident through it all, even when events confuse or frighten.