An Unmarried Woman (1978)

An Unmarried Woman was nominated for Best Picture of 1978, and I think it's one of the great forgotten movies of that decade. It's the story of a woman named Erica whose husband leaves her for a younger woman, someone he met while shopping. She learns to adjust--slowly--to single life as the film progresses, even taking a chance on love again, if a bit tentatively at first. This is a beautiful film filled with a true sense of what life for a divorced woman was like in New York at the time.

The heart of this film is the staggering performance of Jill Clayburgh as Erica. She's a remarkable presence here, always fascinating to watch. I'd never seen this film before, but I have seen Clayburgh in other roles. Nothing can quite prepare you, however, for the depth of her characterization in An Unmarried Woman. She makes you feel each emotion she goes through during the course of the movie. Clayburgh didn't win the Oscar that year for Best Actress, but I can't quite see how anyone else did a more powerful job. She's amazing, a complex and real person on the screen with all of her human traits, good and bad.

There are some moments that really stand out for me. I was stunned--as I'm sure most viewers of this film are--that Erica's husband dumps her in public. Michael Murphy as her husband Martin could have easily chosen to portray his character as a cad, but you do get a sense of his own frustrations in scenes like this. Cliff Gorman, channeling a very different energy from his role in The Boys in the Band, plays an artist who has been hitting on Erica for some time, sort of typical male chauvinist. Their night of passion is, by turns, funny and touching and quite sexy.

However, my favorite parts of the movie are those involving Erica's "club." It's really four friends who get together regularly to talk about their lives. Their affection for each other is always obvious, particularly in the scene where the four of them are sitting in a bed talking about their lives and loves. This movie shows a tremendous bond between women, no doubt a tribute to the consciousness raising groups that were available during that time period. Pat Quinn, Kelly Bishop, and Linda Miller play the three friends, and they're all good, each one representing a different personality type, yet all of them fully supportive even in times of disagreement.

This is a modern-day "women's picture." It's about finding someone to love, certainly, but it's more about loving one's own self. I know that sounds pretty selfish or self-centered, but you can appreciate that Erica isn't looking to have another man in her life to serve as the center of her universe. Although Alan Bates as a painter who becomes her lover is certainly a good choice for the job, she needs some sense of her own identity. That's a strong feminist statement, one that doesn't get made very often these days.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but I have to say that one of the true joys of watching this movie is seeing Clayburgh walking down the streets of New York City with an enormous painting. It's a thrilling sequence, one that I think perfectly captures the right mood at the end of the film.