An Unmarried Woman (1978) User Reviews

The Film Hasn't Dated, But I Have

[Piafredux · 7/10 · 16 February 2006]

When upon its theatrical release I first saw 'An Unmarried Woman' I thought it brilliantly captured the feminist outlook - not the radical feminist viewpoint but the growing awareness of the vast majority of ordinary women of new modalities for living. I just saw it again on DVD and my first impression of the film holds up. But through my having aged my perspectives have matured, and now I also find 'An Unmarried Woman' to be perhaps the finest capturing of 1977's zeitgeist - but only the zeitgeist of upper middle class New Yorkers (Mazursky better captured the wider 70's zeitgeist in 'Harry and Tonto).

Here Mazursky shows that, whatever else he is accused of being or doing or not-doing (with which I don't always agree or disagree), is a thoughtful director taking a good, long, realistic look at this drama and at more than just its central character. I liked that some scenes ran on for a bit longer than some people find necessary or comfortable, because this is how life's scenes often play out beyond one's wanting them to end swiftly and tidily: indeed, the slight overrunning of some scenes contributes what today might be called "value-added" realism to 'An Unmarried Woman.' After all, Erica has, involuntarily, been thrust into a new life in which she's not at ease in every one of its developing, novel situations.

The saxophone score - probably considered hip in 1977 - is today often more than a trifle annoying; but then it could be said that the score is part of the film's capture of the 70's zeitgeist: like all decades the 70's had its annoyances (not the least of which was the dismal monotony of disco, and all those decor-saturating browns, olives (avocado it was called!), honey-golds, and tawny oranges).

The cinematography here is quite good, nicely tailored to the film's intimate subject, situations, and relationships. Throughout the acting is uniformly good; Jill Clayburgh's effort here is, and will remain I expect, a cinema original and classic. I especially enjoyed - not when I first saw the film but much more so now in 2006 - Cliff Gorman's portrayal of self-satisfied, on-the-make Charlie. Andrew Duncan in the minor role of Bob lends great verisimilitude with his pre-"hair systems" comb-over but especially with the touch of about-to-be-over-the-hill despair in Bob's attempt to bed Erica; Bob demonstrates that most men in that decade, beginning as they were to be flummoxed by emerging liberated women and feminism, still clung to the suddenly obsolescent notion that a divorcée would and should be eager to remarry in order to traditionally assure her security and peace of mind.

At my first viewing I agreed with what Tanya, Erica's therapist, said to Erica about guilt being a manufactured, unnecessary emotion. But a good many more years of living have taught me that guilt is not manufactured, and that without it a person is doomed to emptiness and isolation, and a society is doomed to decadence, and even to barbarism. Rather Tanya should have held that guilt is natural, and that it is one's mature management of it that enables one to distinguish, in oneself and in others, venality and narcissism from generosity of spirit.

'An Unmarried Woman' still stands on its own - more as a socio-cultural than as a cinematic landmark. It's that rare kind of film that's worth watching every five or ten years, if only to help us to recall where we've come from, and to help us to profit from, or to enjoy, a sense of where we might be going.

New York In The Late 70s Time Capsule

[Shilpot7 · 8/10 · 26 May 2010]

It's very interesting reading the other reviews to this film. The reactions to it are very extreme. Some people love it. Some people hate it and that was exactly the reaction people had to it back in 1978 when it first came out.

The mid to late 70s was New York's era as the 'fashionable city' in the days of fashionable cities. NYC took the torch from Swinging Sixites London as the city every fashionable person wanted to go to, live in, know... It was the 'Disco' capital of the world. It was where the most interesting films were set. It where all the happening artists lived and Unmarried Woman caught the zeitgeist of that time. Even jogging was a new phenomenon back then and NY lead the way with it and 'everyone' wanted to know what people were up to there, even about the jogging. If you'd never been to NYC you were missing out. If you had been to NY and or knew NY, back in 1978, you bragged about it. While at the same time the city was officially broke and in many ways seemed to be crumbling into the sea.

Unmarried Woman was a product of all this fascination, both negative and positive, with the city at the time. Trivial details about life in NY had a sort of cachet. Therefore, on reflection, what may seem trite to viewers today, had a strange sort of value back then.

Some people sneer at Erica's seemingly privileged position in society. How dare she be so miserable, have you seen where she lives? Well, guess what, wealthy women also feel sad when they are rejected by their husbands for a younger model. And guess what, some people like to look at the lives of people who live in beautiful apartments with views of the river and whizz downtown in yellow cabs on bright New York mornings. In fact it's the contrast between the material privilege and the sadness and loss that makes this film work.

Some people are also alarmed by the strong, upfront musical score. Sorry about that. Music in the 70s was strong and upfront in our lives, not just background noise. The wailing saxophone was the pop instrument of the time and the excellent, very 70s soundtrack, is one of the aspects that make watching this film such a powerful, nostalgic and enjoyable ride.

Unmarried Woman does have its flaws. It is at times somewhat simplistic and personally, I'm not so sure that newly unmarried woman, Erica, was as much of a catch as we're made to believe. Every man she meets seems to fall at her feet.

This is very much a film of its time and a very interesting time and place it was. I wish they still made films like this today, about adults, for adults, with strong subtle performances, without both eyes on the cash register and without some dreary, over-exposed, under talented box office 'star' drudging her way through her lines. There was something very adult and sophisticated about American cinema in the 70s and Unmarrried Woman takes its place in the long list of films that were a part of that.

The film was beautifully shot, beautifully scored, excellently acted and I'm glad it's now available for us to see, as a reminder of a short but memorable time and place.

Mazursky's penchant for the sublimely ridiculous gives the film a wafty comic undertone...

[moonspinner55 · 8/10 · 11 September 2005]

An acting triumph for Jill Clayburgh, playing a N.Y.C. wife and mother whose husband tells her he's fallen in love with another woman. Brittle, biting, funny, and moving; a serious-comedy that benefits from a screenplay which is sometimes strangely over-the-top and yet nearly always on-track emotionally. In his determination to find The Truth about the American woman in the 1970s, writer-director Paul Mazursky gets a little kooky: Clayburgh's Erica throws up on the street after her husband confesses his affair; she later fends off the affections of both her doctor and a blind date (one of those guys who tries covering his bald scalp with overlong side hairs). She's also in therapy and her doctor turns out to be a lesbian (and we never see Erica in therapy again). The mother-daughter dynamics between Clayburgh and tough little nut Lisa Lucas are precise and believable; when Mom brings a man over for dinner, daughter feels defensive and gets mouthy. But the night ends playfully, with the ladies playing piano together and bonding over Paul McCartney! Alan Bates enters in the second-act as a burly, not-pushy artist who falls for Erica, yet she's not so sure. Why she's so reluctant to throw down her defenses for this man isn't made quite clear (playful, sexy Bates would be a godsend to any unattached woman). The film isn't necessarily logical, though it takes pride in being flaky and tart. There are big, passionate feelings in "An Unmarried Woman" and, instead of being some kind of emotional workout, it is surprisingly romantic (which ticked some feminists off, who wanted more than lightweight laughs). I enjoyed it, although it probably seems dated by today's standards. It certainly is peculiar, with Mazursky's penchant for outrageous dialogue punctuated by genuinely affecting emotions. *** from ****

terrific acting

[azeffer · 24 January 2001]

Jill Clayburgh gives a brilliant performance as a married wife and mother left for a younger woman. The movie touches all the different emotions felt and her rebirth as an independent individual. The scene in which Erica's husband tells her he has been cheating is great, and when Erica turns the corner and breaks down is really something to see.

This movie was made when divorce was still a hot topic and women were just coming into the workforce and still tied into identifying themselves through marriage. But the film is still relevant today (we all deal with rejection of one sort or another). The rest of the cast is superb and there are great shots of New York circa 1978.

Ten stars.

Some of the better moments from the Script

[suzzie_szz · 6/10 · 27 August 2019]

• I guess I'm lonely.

• I was very lonely too when I got divorced.
• I didn't know you were divorced.
• Yes. And it's certainly okay to feel lonely. You're supposed to in a situation like this. It's It's what is what's expected. It's really okay to feel anything anger, jealousy...depression. It's okay to feel.
• I I feel guilty about my feelings.
• Well, guilt is something, that I get livid about...because it's kind of a man-made emotion.

*** -How are you, Erica?

• Oh, I'm a little weird these days. I'm getting divorced.
• Ah, I'm surprised.
• Why?
• You seem like such a normal person.Compared to me, that is.
• It's the normal people who are getting divorced. Nobody else bothers to get married.

A great, entertaining and endearing film

[middleburg · 10/10 · 11 June 2004]

An Unmarried Woman was one of the best films from the late 70s/early 80s. It so completely captures a time and a place. It is a personal, perceptive story of a woman's marriage which crumbles to her total surprise. It ends up being a sort of comic--Americanized version (or more specifically New York version) of

"Scenes from a Marriage". Throughout the film we are introduced to one terrific personality after another--each distinctively drawn. From her affluent circle of friends, to the quirky, genuinely intriguing artistic types of the downtown art scene (Soho before it became SO commercial), to the assorted people she

meets on her journey of coping and understanding such as her therapist

(portrayed by the great psychologist and author, Penelope Russianoff, who was a fixture on New York's Upper Westside for years), we are treated to a wealth of fascinating characters. The movie resonates with warmth and understanding.

Jill Clayburgh's Erika is a contemporary tragic/comic heroine. She's beautiful and classy and funny and her emotions--for anyone who has gone through

divorce or separation or simply difficult marital situations--are absolutely dead- on accurate. What is very interesting some 25 years after the movie debuted is that it has not aged one single bit--the characters remain delightful, the

emotions as real as ever, and the New York milieu as varied and fascinating as it still is today (and probably always has been.) A great, entertaining, and endearing film!

Perhaps inspiring but unrealistic

[bpinzka · 6/10 · 22 August 2006]

I disliked An Unmarried Woman, starring Jill Clayburgh and Alan Bates. Clayburgh's character gets dumped by her philandering husband, of whom she suspected nothing of the sort. She keeps the gorgeous apartment and seems financially fit;something that seldom happens in real life. While wallowing in her grief and self-pity, on her first try she finds the perfect shrink and then her first date is a dashing, sensitive artist played by the dashing, sensitive Alan Bates. I saw this with another recently-divorced woman and we were rolling our eyes skyward throughout the movie, asking the good Lord for patience.

Let's see a movie about a woman without any real marketable skills who gets dumped, with several children to care for, who has to depend on public social services for help? BTW, there's some value in comparing this to the 2005 movie The Upside of Anger, in which another woman, this time played by Joan Allen, gets dumped and, in her case, is left with four teenage daughters. While she hasn't financial woes, the psychological trauma rings far more true than in the self-serving Unmarried Woman.

Why did I give it a 6? The outstanding cast and production teams. Consider it a gift.

Jill was robbed

[giffey-1 · 10/10 · 25 August 2006]

I have loved this movie since I saw it in the theater in 1978. I was a 17 year old guy who felt this film had something to say to me too. Jill Clayburgh is magnificent in this film. I have always been drawn to films with strong female characters and I believe this is one of the finest. Jill should have won the Oscar. Even Jane Fonda in a preOscar interview said, when asked on her chances of winning, "No, I think Jill Clayburgh will win, she gave the best performance." But all of the acting is of a uniformly high caliber. Michael Murphy, as the husband, gave a realistic portrayal of a man who struggles with his feelings of a man who is trapped by his feelings for his new love, even though he would never want to hurt is wife. Cliff Gorman and Alan Bates also brings wonderful readings to their characters as well.

I have read several comments here that make it appear to me that people don't like the ending. Yes, it would have been nice if the painting had been delivered to her apartment, but I see her carrying the painting, and especially as she whirls with it at first, as Erika's dance of liberation. That she is by herself, and she is okay with herself. It's only my opinion, but that's how I see it. A wonderful film, that to me has not dated.

A Deep Romantic-Drama Marred by Several Slow Scenes

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 19 July 2021]

"Erica" (Jill Clayburgh) is a happily married woman who lives in an upscale apartment in Manhattan with her husband "Martin" (Michael Murphy) and their teenage daughter "Patti" (Lisa Lucas). Then one day Martin discloses that he has been seeing another woman for over a year and wants a divorce. Needless to say, Erica is devastated by this news and from that point on this film showcases the various emotions she experiences along with the manner in which she adapts to her new life on her own. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a deep romantic-drama which benefited from an excellent performance on the part of Jill Clayburgh. On the other hand, however, there were also several scenes which were rather slow and the movie itself ran on a bit too long as well. Be that as it may, although this film is clearly geared to a female audience in general, it was still entertaining in its own right and I have rated it accordingly.

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 9/10 · 1 June 2005]

A thoughtful film about human emotions and modern relationships, it is filled with interesting ideas and it is very well acted. At the time of the film's initial release, Jill Clayburgh received a lot of attention for her performance, and indeed she delivers very well, but Michael Murphy cannot be forgotten - he is an actor who is able to convey his emotions very realistically. In 1976 and 1979 he was also brilliant in 'The Front' and 'Manhattan' respectively - with such talent it is a shame that he has not had a better career. The film is also is set to some quite appropriately moody music from Bill Conti, and although technically unimpressive in general, some shots are very well composed by Mazursky. On the down side, the supporting characters are only lightly developed, and it drags a bit towards the end, but generally this is a solidly made film, and if nothing else, it is interesting to see Clayburgh dancing about in her underwear!

Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman

[jhkp · 7/10 · 5 January 2019]

I used to love going to Paul Mazursky's movies, the wonderful Harry And Tonto and the underrated Next Stop, Greenwich Village. Several others.

This one was more serious, and he did a good job with it. Jill Clayburgh was an excellent, popular actress of those days. She had a fine supporting cast.

I wanted to comment here, specifically to address the reviewers who say they couldn't relate to this woman emotionally because she was well off and not living in a depressed neighborhood and didn't have three little kids to take care of and no income, etc. These comments made absolutely no sense to me.

It's not this film's fault the economy of the US has deteriorated since it was made. Yes, even at the time, this was an upper middle class New York woman who had no money worries, and therefore she didn't share a lot with the average woman of 1978. But in 1978, many families were still living on one income. Public college was affordable, food and gas, even rent, were affordable. People didn't travel a lot, and many families had one car. People didn't use credit cards very much. The New York subway cost 50 cents.

Why this film had more resonance in 1978 is that divorce was less prevalent then than now. Women were not in the workforce as much. It may seem hard to believe but I remember just a few years before this, women were not allowed to wear pants in some restaurants and hotels. Many universities were not even co-ed.

So here's a woman facing divorce in this very different time, when many women relied on their husbands, and more than that, relied psychologically on the central thing in their lives, home and marriage. I think it was smart of Mazursky to focus on a woman of means, so that the economic issues would not be front-and-center. Instead, this is a woman whose main crisis is the divorce itself, the rejection, the loneliness, the sexual needs, the need to find oneself and rely on oneself. It works particularly because this was a woman who never really had to rely on herself, before.

It was a very different time and people may find it hard to relate to that time, but it's still a well-made, well-acted film.

An Unmarried Woman - Men intend to have fun in uncertainty but women definitely need an answer.

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 2 April 2007]

She was an unmarried woman, she used to be married with a man who left their 16 years marriage for another young woman. The disruption of their marriage began in a slow way, firstly no one awared there were some problems had emerged even when i watched this film and I slightly knew a bit of the gut beforehand but still thought they were quite good couple with a lovely daughter, but who knew, suddenly another woman she had never seen before brought her husband away, she was just a poor divorced woman being left behind.

I like the scene when her husband abruptly told her the affair and decided to leave her. Like a thunderbolt, Jill Clayburgh's performance is heartbreaking and powerful! Life sometimes is so ridiculous, and mankind are always unsatisfying, we're inevitably getting tired of something old, trying to find something new, eventually find the old one is the perfect but what a shame! Not everyone has a second chance, and if you give someone one second chance, they know you can offer a third, fourth....and more. So don't be so cruel to yourself, The sky above is much bigger than your heart.

She met a painter and developed a romantic relationship with him, they loved each other but the story did not end with another good marriage. At last, the painter left and she didn't follow him because she was still an unmarried but happy woman. She got a big painting from the painter as a souvenir of him and her growth.

Very charming drama full of wisdom and humor, the whole story is not so comedy though. An excellent performance from Jill Clayburgh deserves her Oscar nomination that year. Alan Bates is drop-dead charming in this film. Also recommend the crooning piano score, especially ecstatic.

Blah

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 14 November 2016]

A wealthy woman from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after her husband of 16 years leaves her for a younger woman.

Maybe I live in the wrong era, but this film struck me as so bizarre. I can understand going through a shocking transition when divorce comes at you out of nowhere. That part of the film was handled very well, even if a bit over the top.

What I did not understand was the film's obsession with sex. At one point the woman comments that she had not had sex in seven weeks and thought her world was falling apart. Some of the happiest couples go years... if you are measuring your happiness in sexual encounters, I do not think you fully understand what it means to love someone.

The Awful Life of a Post Divorcée Living in a Fabulous Apartment.

[chconnol · 4/10 · 24 May 2005]

Oh, boy.

It's sometimes seems too easy a shot to hit a movie like "An Unmarried Woman" almost thirty (30!!!) years after it's release and on the grounds that it depicts a charmed life that is hit with a crisis like the one depicted here. But that's my case. I don't have an issue with some of the dialog which others have stated seems so "70s". I lived through that era so maybe it doesn't seem or sound so archaic to me. "An Unmarried Woman" was a BIG movie back in 1978. It received almost universal praise and Clayburgh's performance catapulted her out of her supporting roles and in into the realm of 1st rate actresses like Fonda. A lot of the praise for her is deserved.

What gets me is the depiction of her crisis while living in a pretty awesome upper east side Manhattan apartment. I'm not saying that people in the upper middle class don't have problems and issues but their depiction in a movie that is supposed to have some universal value seems superficial and ignorant. What are we supposed to think? "Awwww, the poor dear...her husband's run off and left her?" Well, she still has the great apartment, the sensitive, intellectually aware daughter for support as well as a swell gaggle of female friends to hang and bitch with. Sorry, but the movie simply doesn't cut it as tragedy at all. This woman is still able to do a lot of things AND go to therapy! And I haven't even gotten to the BIG BEAR of an artist she ends up with and then turns down his proposal! Oye, does SHE have problems that most people would kill to have! How about a movie about an unmarried woman trying to make ends meet in a lower class neighborhood in Brooklyn? Too downbeat, right? Betcha that woman won't have time to hang with her friends and do therapy. OK, how about a working class woman from New Jersery? No? Not enough fabulousness in a split ranch or cape code home? That's why it's so tricky doing a drama about people "finding" themselves amidst a personal or emotional crisis. You cannot show one person as an example of all experiences. And Hollywood tends to go to ones like these where the people are way, way better off financially than most people in these situation. The reality is that it's much easier to overcome these kinds of emotional issues when you've got $$$ as "An Unmarried Woman" so acutely demonstrates. But what it fails to realize is how narrow their view is. We're supposed to see how great it is to find oneself but the feeling I got was "yeah, it's great to find yourself when your life after the separation really wasn't that bad." The narrow mindedness of this film is almost infuriating if it weren't for the fluid direction and the good acting by everyone.

Watershed moment in the history of 'women's films'

[barbarella70 · 8 January 2003]

Moving tale of a middle-class Manhattan housewife's struggle for independence after her husband leaves her for another woman.

The wonderful Paul Mazursky created this 1978 landmark slaute to women's liberation and the film wipes the floor with the messy urban horror of 1977's Looking for Mr. Goodbar: Goodbar's makers ultimately had no respect for their female protagonist but Mazursky scores in his depiction of female self-respect and love.

Jill Clayburg's miraculous performance as Erica was snubbed at the Academy Awards in favor of Jane Fonda's more 'tolerable' female in Coming Home but if you look closely you'll see there's no comparison and Clayburg hits all the right notes while displaying Erica's overwhelmingly complex feelings. Perhaps Erica's unique strength was too much for many male Academy members so they rewarded the typical moony-eyed housewife character instead. Regardless of that, Clayburg makes a brilliant lead and her lonely journey through New York-chic (art exhibits, bars, therapists, narcisstic artists) makes for great viewing. (The very brief encounters Erica has with a handsome blonde man at the coatcheck before and after she's been hit with the news from her husband are a nice touch!) There's a rare level of intimacy between the actors in all of the scenes but especially the girl group talks: the words sound surprisingly like they belong to the actors and Mazursky's ear for dialogue is sharp and refreshingly to-the-point.

Michael Murphy as the wayward husband, Alan Bates as the new love interest, and Cliff Gorman -whom I last saw as the bitchy, effeminate in The Boys in the Band!- as a male chauvinist provide exceptional support as the men in Erica's life. The only thing that marres the beauty of this film is its awful, piercingly shrill, '70's saxophone musical score.

Phony Feminism

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 18 October 2007]

Jill Clayburgh plays an affluent New Yorker whose life crumbles when her husband reveals that's he's having an affair and wants a divorce. What's a woman to do when everything she's built her life around is suddenly whisked away?

This feminist anthem from Paul Mazursky is well meaning but also condescending. It's a movie that was clearly made by a man, and it's a man's guess at what a feminist awakening would look and feel like, rather than the real thing. Therefore, it records Clayburgh's emotional development with the neatness of a house wife checking off items on a grocery list, and even throws in a lesbian daughter just to prove that there are women out there who don't need men at all, as if that's even remotely what feminism is about.

Clayburgh is game, but she's better than the movie.

Grade: B

Clayburgh blazes a trail in women's cinema

[paul_johnr · 8/10 · 16 January 2007]

While it's another thing to claim she was ripped off, it is very hard to accept that Jill Clayburgh was outvoted for an Academy Award after breaking new ground in Paul Mazursky's compelling drama on the divorces of American women. 'An Unmarried Woman' will most likely be the film for which Clayburgh is best remembered, since her Oscar-nominated role opened the door to countless 'relationship' films and television series that appeared later. 'An Unmarried Woman' helped bring divorce and the female sexual experience to mainstream film and TV, still under-the-covers topics in 1978. Nowadays, there is a 'Sex and the City' for every 'Kramer vs. Kramer' and one 'Desperate Housewives' for each and every 'Terms of Endearment,' owing greatly to the impact of this picture.

In the new millennium, divorce is taken so much for granted that emotional scars are frequently overlooked. 'An Unmarried Woman' nevertheless hits home with crude realities and hits hard. Paul Mazursky, acclaimed in 1976 for 'Next Stop, Greenwich Village,' draws a scene rich in despair where men turn their backs on devoted wives, children face enormous personal loss, and lives struggle to be rebuilt. And 'An Unmarried Woman' has that needed silver lining, putting humorous spins on a person's climb to independence and the overcoming of setbacks.

Jill Clayburgh plays Erica Benton, a Vassar graduate who has accepted three challenging roles in late 1970s New York: art gallery curator, wife of sporty investor Martin (Michael Murphy), and mother to teenaged girl Patti (Lisa Lucas). Erica serves as the hub in a large group of acquaintances who each carry different perspectives on love and sex. She meets weekly with a group of ladies that includes Jeannette (Linda Miller), a divorcée now playing the field, and Sue (Patricia Quinn), a married woman who has accepted her husband's infidelities. On the male side, uncouth sculptor Charlie (Cliff Gorman) lectures Erica on the 'need' to sleep around and English painter Saul (Alan Bates) becomes a part of Erica's life after meeting at an exhibition. The film is very much a diary of Erica's battles against fear, from the early trauma of separation to her small gaining of freedom.

Clayburgh gives a typically understated performance that fits her character like a shoe. Erica is a woman suffering from within and never does Clayburgh stoop to melodrama or overstate emotions. The entire cast, in fact, keeps feelings on a realistic level for most of the story. This is helped by the taut writing and direction of Paul Mazursky, whose screenplay goes to the essence of human thought and conversation. People in Mazursky's script genuinely resent, hope, fall in love, laugh, cry. 'An Unmarried Woman' is above and beyond the typical soap opera framework, examining how we confront betrayal and desire.

The performances are excellent all around. Michael Murphy succeeds in the role of a husband whose uncontrolled lust destroys his family. Lisa Lucas wonderfully portrays Patti Benton and wins even deeper sympathy than Erica as an intelligent young woman who loses her father. The supporting cast that includes Alan Bates, Cliff Gorman, Linda Miller, Patricia Quinn, and Kelly Bishop (as Elaine) makes up a complex landscape of opinion from which Erica must pick and choose.

'An Unmarried Woman' is a thoroughly New York film, using locations in Soho and the Manhattan financial district. Exterior shots are brimming with life under Mazursky's direction; they are filled with extras and offer a strong New York vibe. Cinematographer Arthur Ornitz ('Requiem for a Heavyweight,' 'Death Wish,' 'Next Stop, Greenwich Village') keeps things simple throughout, using bright photography and largely white interiors. Bill Conti's score is often intrusive with its booming saxophone, but does capture feelings that jazzed up the late 70s.

This film has its weaknesses, as the important breakup scene between Martin and Erica seems a bit overdone and Martin's sincerity is a lingering question. While shedding new light on the topic of divorce, it is from a largely middle class perspective; Erica is well-educated, financially sound, and has the credentials to start anew. The meetings between Erica and her psychiatrist Tanya (Penelope Russianoff, a real-life psychologist) are fascinating, but it is treatment not readily available to everyone. Technically speaking, the editing by Stuart Pappé looks a bit choppy in scene transitions; however, it does not upset the movie's flow. These problems are secondary, as the film offers powerful situations that every adult can relate to. Overall, it is a great trailblazer of women's film.

To my disappointment, 'An Unmarried Woman' has been released on a poor-quality DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Mazursky and Clayburgh pair up for a commentary track that is the only redeeming feature of this disc. Besides a jewel case that features Clayburgh in black underwear (?), the film is presented in widescreen with a choice of English mono or English stereo; Spanish and French mono are offered besides English and Spanish subtitles. While its overall print quality is good, the DVD's exteriors and white interiors reveal far too much grain for my liking. English mono is once again the better audio choice, as its stereo version gives too much weight to background and muffles dialogue. Mazursky and Clayburgh do make insightful comments on the production and give life to this otherwise blah retail. 20th Century Fox's theatrical trailer is provided as a second extra.

*** out of 4

An Unmarried Woman **1/2- Needs Some Kind of Bliss

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 26 November 2008]

Jill Clayburgh gives an off-the-wall performance in this 1978 film dealing with a woman who must confront the fact that her husband has walked out on her. After seemingly having the perfectly married life with a precocious daughter, Clayburgh is forced to re-enter life in a time of sexual revolution in America.

Michael Murphy is superb as her husband who walks out on her, and there is fine support from Cliff Gorman, the guy who knows the score and Alan Bates, who steals the film as Saul Kaplan, the rebel artist who got his inspiration for expressionism when his mother threw a pickled herring at his father! The film, before the entrance of Bates, depicts men as overly obsessive sex fiends who will go to any length to make a conquest. While the Kaplan figure goes from that description, Clayburgh suddenly becomes an independent woman.

Penelope Russianoff, who had a Ph.D in psychology in real life, portrays the therapist that Clayburgh goes to when Murphy walks out. For a non-actress, she is perfect for the part since she is in every sense of meaning, a true therapist.

Finding fault with a basically good film that should have been better may be shown by the inconsistencird of the Clayburgh performance. Her Jewish-American attributes at the beginning get a rude awakening when Murphy walks out. Yet, she goes through a period of shock and desire to cling to something only to boldly claim her independence as a woman.

The ending of the film is a definite disappointment. Erica (Clayburgh) again proves that as a scorned woman, she hesitates to re-enter life and will, if anything, be subordinate to it.

A well-kept secret...

[niel · 9/10 · 21 May 2005]

Having seen this film when it was released, remember thinking how good it was, Then seeing it last night and thinking it was sensational. Glancing at the vote demographics for this flick helped me see why I liked it so much more now. It's because I've been around more.

With sensational performances by Ms Clayburgh and Mr Bates one is drawn into the feelings and yearnings of someone who is only just awaking from a dream to find out how daunting life can be after a dissolved marriage.

Some people would dismiss this as just a women's picture, and it is that, but I found a lot to relate to in her situation. Yes, there is a lot of drama here, but there is a lighter side too. If this film were a book, it would be a great read!

This movie has finally become nostalgia.

[jgepperson · 6/10 · 27 May 2005]

I recently saw for the second time the Paul Mazursky film "Willie and Phil" and wrote about it here. (The first time was when it came out in 1980.) I wrote that I found it less satisfying than "An Unmarried Woman." Now I've watched "An Unmarried Woman" for the first time in a few years - I've probably seen it five times - and I believe I've finally outgrown it. I think one of the reasons I didn't enjoy it so much any more is that I live in New York where the film is set and it's hard for me to get involved in a story about a WASP who went to Vassar and lives in a high-rise apartment on the Upper East Side.

The film is about that kind of traditional person whose life turns upside down and she discovers something more meaningful. She even (apparently) moves out of the apartment into what seems to be a townhouse on the ground level with a backyard. And she discovers her independence. But I still find the movie not as involving and satisfying as I did at one time. Maybe because the filmmaker doesn't allow her to go as deep into a non-traditional life as one would like.

Perhaps I was always excited about this movie because it was released the year I moved to New York, and I was charged about the move. Now, it's just nostalgia for a kind of New York that has disappeared. Certainly there are plenty of traditional bores on the Upper East Side, but SoHo hardly looks the same, since it's become a metrosexual shopping mall.

From a feminist point of view the movie seems to be about a woman who, through circumstances beyond her control, is brought down to her basics and survives. Hitchcock did this with Tallulah Bankhead in "Lifeboat" (Tallulah's hair comes down, literally and figuratively) but of course Hitch was a sadist and Mazursky is interested in something more wistful and human. I do believe Mazursky's heart is in the right place.

In spite of the movie's flaws, it has some memorable scenes and performances, and I got a little misty-eyed a couple of times. It was Jill Clayburgh's greatest professional moment.

A Time Capsule of the late 70s

[boiler74 · 10/10 · 21 June 2007]

Somehow I missed "An Unmarried Woman" when I was a senior in college, but I remember hearing about it. Finally, about five years ago, I was flipping through the channels, and I happened upon this gem. I realize some people might consider this film "dated," but other than period pieces, all movies are eventually "dated" in one aspect or another.

I thought Jill Clayburgh was gorgeous and showed herself to be quite a feisty "Erica Benton." Michael Murphy as her husband Martin was extremely annoying and self-centered, but that was his role and the whole reason wife Erica was sent into the world of unmarried women.

I enjoyed the music, the setting, and the general feeling of having lived through that time (1977-1978). Sadly, several key actors from the film are gone (Alan Bates, Cliff Gorman, Penelope Russianoff), but this movie will live on as it captured the post-Vietnam era quite well. It sounds odd now to say the movie was a breakthrough for women, but for its time, it was pretty controversial.

It's nice to see Jill Clayburgh active on Broadway and the silver screen once again. I'm looking forward to her role on the upcoming TV series "Dirty Sexy Money." I can't wait to see her in scenes with "Six Feet Under" star Peter Krause!

Time Travellers

[mkl-2 · 7/10 · 16 October 1999]

With this film Mazursky seems to be one of those anthropologists, spearheaded by the French Eric Rohmer, of segments of the late twentieth century supplying cases for hereafter historians. But their work is also of interest for contemporary viewers, evaluating their endeavors to render portraits without superimposing their own systems of values. (What's this tendency with me to express myself in English like a deranged lawyer?) That Rohmer's Paris movies are more watchable than Mazursky's New Yorker kind may be because the latter has to depict a people, the Americans, which behave in contrast to the French rather psychotically. All in all. This is said with cheek in tongue but nevertheless, said it is.

Jill Clayburgh gives a remarkable performance...

[Karen-34-2 · 10/10 · 6 March 1999]

Jill Clayburgh, long overlooked for her sterling performances, gives a wonderful performance as Erica Benton, a woman whose husband suddenly leaves her after almost twenty years of marriage. Married after just graduating from Vassar (a great line about the school is not to be missed!), Erica's whole adult life has been defined as a wife. Left to fend for herself with her teenage daughter in Manhattan, Erica must come to terms with a brave new world of vastly different mores than she is accustomed to.

As Erica seeks to re-define herself as a single woman, she has some embarrassing, albeit humorous, encounters in discos and taxi cabs with men who are quite frank about their needs and desires. Confused, she turns to a therapist who helps her cope and explore the person she truly is but has never had the opportunity to express. When she is able to comes to term with this issue, Erica finds happiness with someone who is her polar opposite but who loves her for the person she is.

Throughout the film, the loving relationship between Erica and her daughter, who is also intelligent and free-thinking, is explored. Although the two spar early on in the film (Erica vents her rage over men inappropriately towards the daughter's boyfriend), one of the final scenes where the two sit and play at the piano is one of the most beautiful mother-daughter scenes in modern film.

Decent

[aboutagirly · 7/10 · 30 May 2011]

Jill Clayburgh plays an affluent New Yorker whose life crumbles when her husband reveals that's he's having an affair and wants a divorce. What's a woman to do when everything she's built her life around is suddenly whisked away?

This feminist anthem from Paul Mazursky is well meaning but also condescending. It's a movie that was clearly made by a man, and it's a man's guess at what a feminist awakening would look and feel like, rather than the real thing. Therefore, it records Clayburgh's emotional development with the neatness of a house wife checking off items on a grocery list, and even throws in a lesbian daughter just to prove that there are women out there who don't need men at all, as if that's even remotely what feminism is about.

Clayburgh is game, but she's better than the movie.

Maybe my most disliked film of all time

[tedr0113 · 2/10 · 4 March 2007]

I have seen this film 4 times (at least). I despised it the first time. Then I saw a trailer (which was wonderful) that made me see it a second time. Still disliked it. Good reviews made me watch it on video and DVD. And you know what? I still hated it.

First, let me say that none of this is Jill Clayburgh's fault. She is absolutely fantastic. She inhabited her character fully and did with it as much as she could. He Oscar nom was well deserved.

The problem is the screenplay. Here, Paul Mazursky (for whom I have admittedly no fondness for) is incredibly SMUG. It is the screenplay I would imagine a self-important, in therapy, male with his head stuck up his own ass (and admiring the view) would write. Watching it is like watching a so-called sensitive male egotistic go on about how he is oh-so-sensitive to women's wants when all he wants to do is screw the babe. You roll your eyes, nod, and look for the exit.

If this film, or Mazursky, was less highly regarded, I'd probably wouldn't be on my high horse here. But he and it is, and I think that is a shame.