Iyar Julie

why is Leonardo DiCaprio so millennial in this

John Cassavetes directed *A Woman Under the Influence *in a truly unique way. It feels extremely raw and intimate, as if I am watching a messy family as a guest, experiencing the awkwardness and embarrassment of certain scenes from inside the room with them. It often feels uncomfortable, but intentionally so, creating both emotional closeness and tension at the same time. What I liked most is that he does not clearly explain or judge any of the characters. Instead, the film leaves space to think about marriage, mental health, love, and the ways people fail each other even when they love deeply. What struck me most is the way Mabel constantly gives to others in order to make them feel comfortable, accepted, and at ease, even when in the end it costs her emotionally. She is always trying to create warmth and connection, but when she reaches a point where she needs that same understanding in return, the people around her seem unable to provide that to her. What makes that dynamic especially moving is the way she often returns to the children, because with them she seems to find a kind of honesty and acceptance that adults deny from her. Around them she appears less judged and more seen, as if children are the only ones willing to respond to her without trying to control or correct her. That dynamic makes her isolation even more painful, because the film suggests that the comfort she tries so hard to give to others is something she rarely receives herself. In that sense, the film becomes even more heartbreaking, because Mabel’s **need to be understood** is present in almost every gesture she makes.