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Truly Dreadful Film

People are voting emotionally.

i must have seen a different film!!

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

An Unmarried Woman is a story from a particular time and place, and its virtue is that it captures that time and place very well. Jill Clayburgh plays Erica, an upper-middle class woman on New York's upper east side who is happily married, has a precocious daughter, an engaging job in an art gallery, and a seemingly happy and tranquil life. Suddenly one day her husband Martin, played by Michael Murphy, is walking down the street with her and breaks down in tears, announcing to her that he has fallen in love with another woman. For the audience, this scene is not a big surprise, since, after all, one probably knows the premise of the movie before one goes in. For Erica, however, it is a shock, and for all of the women who have had this scene played out for them in real life, it is an iconic moment of filmmaking, as we watch Erica stagger away and vomit into a garbage can.Like most moments in An Unmarried Woman, this one is not overdone, and it brings up the central virtue of the picture--it is real. Erica goes through a number of experiences on a general arc toward independence for herself--a date with a guy who is too forward, a one-night stand with an appealing co-worker, some therapy sessions to help her right the ship, and finally a new relationship. The movie takes place amidst the huge spike in divorce after the passage of no-fault divorce laws in the early 70s, and is really a time capsule toward the era where anxiety over divorce hit an all-time high. Paul Mazursky's screenplay is meticulously written, and Clayburgh is spot-on as the unmarried woman, trying from scene to scene to find her identity amidst personal and social chaos.There are some people who might say that it seems a bit gratuitous to feel sorry for Erica, given her charmed life even after the divorce; she seems, for example, to have no money problems, she keeps her awesome apartment, has great support from her friends. However, one should make no mistake that what happened to her was a crushing blow, and her struggle to find herself is very real. Clayburgh makes her character sympathetic by finding both the genuine profound sadness in the situation and the corresponding strength inside the character that she plays. The movie is rightly called a feminist movie because of Erica's transformation within a particular social current, but it is also simply a movie about a decent, likable person who took a blow and showed courage in recovering from it. In the end, the movie is both good drama and an important document of the times. Want to know about divorce anxiety in the 70s? This is your movie. Want to be touched by a woman finding her whole self? This is also your movie.

Paul Mazursky's completely wonderful journey of a woman from happy, married life to being single. Jill Clayburgh plays Erica, a woman who seems to have the perfect existence. One day, without warning, her perfect life unravels completely. The film follows her odyssey into divorce and recovering from it. What's even more great is that the film does not forget to be funny while not losing its ability to move. This is Jill Clayburgh's finest hour. Alan Bates is the perfect actor to play Erica's love interest. I kept imagining his Rupert character from Women in Love being presented with another kind of woman. Not a false note in the whole film. One of the best movies of the '70s.

What can you say about the 1970's? It was a bleak, dark, pointlessly down decade. Made toward the end of the 70's (in 1978) "An Unmarried Woman" pretty much captures that feeling perfectly. It was bleak, dark and pointless. It begins with a marriage between Erica and Martin (Jill Clayburgh and Michael Murphy) that seems OK on the outside, but you know from the start that there are problems. It spends most of its time watching Erica try to rebuild her life after Martin confesses that he's fallen in love with a younger woman and leaves her, then it ends on a rather pointless note as her new beau (played by Alan Bates) gives her a huge painting that she struggles to carry home. It's needlessly long (and seems longer thanks to a slow script) and - aside from Clayburgh's performance (which was quite good) - does remind me of the '70's (and I'm not just talking about how absolutely and hopelessly dated the movie seems.) Like December 31, 1979 - when you were just glad the decade was over and you could move on to the 80's, even though you had no idea what the 80's would bring - you're just glad this movie comes to an end and you can move on to something else, no matter what it might be. 2/10

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