On U List of Movie Reviews

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An Unmarried Woman (1978)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 9/26

UnmWom
9/26: Whenever Paul Mazursky's name is listed in the credits as writer or director, I pay attention.

That's why An Unmarried Woman is a solid piece of work, earning three Oscar nominations. One of them went to Jill Clayburgh. Unquestionably, it's the finest performance of her career. Prior to this film, I saw Starting Over. Many people complained that it was a repeat of An Unmarried Woman, and I have to agree. Worse, Burt Reynolds dragged her down to his level.

Another aspect to like is the cinematography. New York City is captured so well that Paul Mazursky even understands what it's like to live there. Because of his absorbing Oscar-nominated writing that's sometimes funny, many players are able to stand out such as Michael Murphy, Alan Bates in his first American film ever, Cliff Gorman, Penelope Russianoff (a real practicing therapist), Kelly Bishop, Pat Quinn, and Lisa Lucas who clearly got robbed of Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Unfortunately, I can't say An Unmarried Woman is Best Picture material. For starters, it runs far too long. At least an half hour should be cut out. After a while, whatever is going on in Erica Benton's life ceases to matter. That's when I started to look at the ambience and the social scene more. By the way, the title is misleading as it should be A Newly Divorcée, but the following trivia from IMDb explains:

"The film was conceived by filmmaker Paul Mazursky during the mid-1970s—around 1974 and 1975. A female friend of his wife Betsy Mazursky, who was divorced, had bought a house, and on the deed for the sale, the friend was asked to sign the statement as 'an unmarried woman' after her signature. The director felt that the wording would make a great title for a movie but, at the same time, recognized that it also reflected a stigma for a single woman."

All in all, Jill Clayburgh absolutely deserved back-to-back Oscar nominations for An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.