In this episode, I explore Gena Rowlands's raw and uncompromising performance as Mabel Longhetti in John Cassavetes's 1974 film, "A Woman Under the Influence." Mabel is a woman struggling with mental illness and coming apart in the midst of family turmoil. I talk about why Cassavetes's work was so groundbreaking and provide details about his and Rowlands's relationship. The heart of the episode is my in-depth analysis of Rowlands's acting in the film and why I think she gives one of the greatest performances of all time. I also talk about my recent move, my own struggle with mental illness, the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, and I expand on my previous ideas about a Cinema of the Unruly Woman.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

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More about the HBO documentary, A Dangerous Son

John Cassavetes Interviews and Research:

Gena Rowlands Interviews:

In this episode, I explore Michael Haneke's 2001 film, "The Piano Teacher." Isabelle Huppert gives one of the greatest acting performances of all time as a masochistic piano teacher who becomes involved with one of her students. If you have not seen this film, I insist that you watch it before listening to this episode. There are spoilers. This episode also contains graphic sexual content.

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Interviews with Michael Haneke

Interviews with Isabelle Huppert

In this episode, I explore Yasujiro Ozu's 1949 classic, "Late Spring." Setsuko Hara stars as 27-year-old Noriko who feels a strong bond with her widower father and prefers to live with him instead of getting married. Worried that he will doom his daughter to an unfulfilling life, Noriko's father claims that he intends to re-marry and insists that Noriko have a life of her own with a husband. I talk about Ozu's life, why his directing style is unique, and why this film moves me so deeply. I focus on the relationship between Noriko and her father, and I question why we prioritize romantic love and often do not acknowledge the power of other kinds of love, like that for our parents or our friends.

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In this episode, I continue my exploration of films that helped me through my grief after my father died in 2006. "The Lives of Others" is an important film in my life. I have intense memories of watching it for the first time in a theater. It's about playwright, Georg Dreyman, and his lover, Christa-Maria Sieland, who come under surveillance in 1984 in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). After WWII, Germany was split between West Germany and East Germany, the latter being controlled by the Soviet Union. It was a repressive government that used a secret police known as the Stasi to turn everyday people into informants through threats, interrogation, and violence. I talk about why this film is so important due to its examination of themes like surveillance and how people resist (or don't resist) under a repressive government.

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After my father died in 2006, my mom and I lost ourselves in the films shown at a local discount theater. In this episode, I talk about Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth," a movie I saw in that theater and one that left a lasting impression on me. This episode is deeply personal. It's not just about "Pan's Labyrinth." It's also about grief, mental illness, my love of cinema, and much more. It even features an interview with my mom. She's making her very first appearance on the podcast! We talk about why films were such a comfort to us as we struggled to cope with our grief.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

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In this episode, I explore Donna Deitch's 1985 cult classic, "Desert Hearts." It's about Vivian Bell, who travels to Reno, Nevada in 1959 to get a quickie divorce. While she stays at a ranch for six weeks, she meets the vivacious Cay Rivvers, and the two women fall in love. "Desert Hearts" was one of the first films to represent a lesbian relationship without it ending in tragedy or suicide.

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For decades, the work of Kathleen Collins languished in obscurity. She was a writer, filmmaker, and professor who is considered one of the first black women to direct a feature-length film. That film is 'Losing Ground,' an extraordinary portrait of a marriage in turmoil and a complex representation of a deeply intellectual woman in search of ecstasy and magic. In this episode, I explore Collins's life, discuss the barriers that have made it difficult for black women to make films both in the past and today, and I provide an in-depth analysis of 'Losing Ground.'

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

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In this episode, I explore Ounie Lecomte's moving 2009 debut feature film, "A Brand New Life." The film is based on Lecomte's own life and centers around a 9-year-old girl who is abandoned by her father at an orphanage in Seoul in 1975. I discuss the film's themes of abandonment, loss, loneliness, and the marginalization of women. I also talk about more general things at the beginning of the episode, like why the Her Head in Films podcast means so much to me and why I am putting so much of myself into it.

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Things Discussed in this Episode:

For the month of April, I'm focusing on debut feature films by women directors. I'm kicking off the series with Joanna Hogg's 2007 debut film, "Unrelated." The film explores the emotional crisis of a woman who escapes ostensible marriage problems by going on a vacation in Italy with a friend. It's a subtle but devastating look at loneliness, ageing, and disconnection. There are spoilers in this episode.

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Things cited and discussed in this episode:

What happens when cinema becomes an obsession? I explore that question and many more in this episode on Abbas Kiarostami's 1990 genre-blending film, "Close-Up." It revolves around the true story of Hossein Sabzian, a passionate cinephile who deceives a family by impersonating the director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and is charged with fraud in an Iranian court. All the people involved in the story play themselves in the film, but, at every turn, Kiarostami blends documentary and fiction and raises questions about the nature of truth and the construction of reality. Not only that, this film is an unforgettable portrait of a man willing to sacrifice everything for cinema.

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Full show notes:

Listen to the other films in my series on formative art house films that changed my life: The Passion of Joan of Arc, La Jetée, Cleo from 5 to 7, and L'avventura.

Listen to my other episodes about Abbas Kiarostami: The Koker Trilogy, Where Is My Friend's House? , and Taste of Cherry

Senses of Cinema article by Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa about Abbas Kiarostami

More information about the Iranian New Wave

The Sight and Sound poll that placed Close-Up in the Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time

Godfrey Cheshire's essay "Close-Up: Prison and Escape"

Read the original article in Sorush Magazine from 1989 that tells the story of Hossein Sabzian. This article inspired Kiarostami to make the film.

Listen to my episodes on Krzysztof Kieślowski: The Double Life of Veronique and Dekalog

Read the article in Bidoun by Coco Ferguson that details Sabzian's death and his final years

More information about the short documentary Close-Up Long Shot