5. Gena Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence
Cine-SourceFew directors in the history of American cinema have proven themselves to be as adept at handling actors as John Cassavetes. An actor himself, his filmography is a collection of acting masterclasses in which the performances come first, featuring characters of a complexity and nuance often lacking in other dramas. A Woman Under the Influence is no exception - raw and uncompromising, it details the steady decline of Mabel, a housewife who starts to exhibit increasingly odd behaviour in company with her husband, who eventually reluctantly commits her to an institution for treatment out of concern for her safety. Unfortunately the six months of therapy isn't enough to cure her fractured psyche, and a party to celebrate her return soon degenerates into another psychotic episode. Gena Rowlands's performance as Mabel has gone down in cinema history as one of the finest mental breakdowns of all time - and quite rightly so. Cassavetes isn't shy of illustrating her disintegration into madness in a complex manner, either, and A Woman Under the Influence is as much a commentary on misguided social mores and gender politics as it is about a woman cracking under the weight of it all. It's a powerhouse of a performance which took the concept of acting to new levels.