An Ode to the Anti-Victims of Gena Rowlands: 1980-1984

As an actress in Hollywood, one might fear that a career ends once they turn 40. Gena Rowlands, however, reached new artistic highs during this period of her life. Edging closer to middle age, Rowlands gave some of the most impactful performances ever caught on film. Even when entering her fifth decade, one might expect that her career would take a downward turn, with roles for women of that age becoming small and boring. Often, motherhood becomes the main avenue of revenue for middle aged women, doomed to take care of children on screen until they’re suddenly taking care of adults as a grandmother. Other times, like for Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, the minute a woman in Hollywood turns 40, she’s drowning in offers to play witches on the big screen. To the benefit of audiences everywhere, age couldn’t stop Rowlands from giving groundbreaking performances, however large or small the role.

PART 2: 1980-1984

Previously, this series tackled Rowlands’ work from the 1970s. In the 1980s, Rowlands’ career continued to blossom. Her first turn in her 50s was Gloria, written and directed by her husband John Cassavetes and released in 1980. The film turned the concept of motherhood on its head as a crime thriller (in an interview with Matt Zoller Seitz, Rowlands even argues it’s “a gangster comedy”) about a woman entrusted with her neighbors’ child. In 1982, Rowlands’ small role in Paul Mazursky’s Tempest as Antonia Demitrius, mother to first time actress Molly Ringwald and (ex) wife of real-life husband Cassavetes, proves entertaining and heartbreaking, despite being a less-than-stellar film overall. In her last role in a film by Cassavetes, Rowlands takes her on screen persona to new heights in Love Streams (1984), giving character Sarah Lawson a strength not typically seen in the neurotic women Rowlands played in the 1970s. Never once is she a victim.

When looking at the work Rowlands did with Cassavetes, 1980’s Gloria is a step away from the intense dramas about broken down women they created in the 1970s. Rowlands stars as the titular Gloria, trusted with taking care of her neighbors’ child Phil (John Adames) whose parents are murdered by the mob. They’re looking to capture the boy and his father’s book next. The plot details aren’t the most necessary or important aspects of the film, as it’s anchored by tense action and a perfect performance by Rowlands. A complete change from typical Cassavetes-Rowlands collaborations like A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Opening Night (1977), Gloria is about an empowered woman who refuses to be a victim of circumstance and beats the mob at their own game.

What makes Gloria different from Rowlands’ other characters is how she takes control of a situation she’s been thrust into. Gloria has no desire to take care of Phil — in fact, she’s protecting him against her own mob ex-associates — but even when she fights with him and he struggles to get away, she still protects him. Gloria lacks a maternal instinct entirely, enjoying life in her apartment with her cat before she reluctantly agrees to help her neighbors. Gloria can’t cook eggs and she doesn’t know how to get Phil to listen to her; his constant running away and bickering with her makes way to a more and more exasperated Rowlands. Despite their differences, Gloria is sure of one thing: Phil is a child she was given to protect, and she’s going to protect him. Every shot she takes at the mob is filled with an explosive energy, as Rowlands carries them out with a cool stoicism or a feisty anger. Phil insists that he is “the man,” that she must do as he says, but without Gloria’s strength and quick wit, he’d be as good as dead.

Rowlands turned 50 the year Gloria was released, and received her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Entering middle age, Rowlands shines as an action star. Gloria is far less bombastic than the blockbusters we’ve become accustomed to, yet Rowlands shines in every scene far more than the action stars of today. Gloria is far removed from the out of touch characters of Rowlands’ past, and it’s felt in every word, every movement, every facial expression. Rowlands’ smiles are devious as she escapes the mob in a car chase; the frown that paints her face while a cigarette dangles from her mouth after she lets Phil leave her paints vivid exhaustion and guilt; and every time the mob catches up to them, it’s like you can see Rowlands’ heart drop in an instant. Gloria is witty, capable, and in the end, fearless. 

Antonia Demitrius, as a Rowlands character, is far different from the roles she played for Cassavetes: she’s a side character, a wife to Phillip (Cassavetes) who never existed in the Shakespeare play the film is a loose adaptation of. There is an Antonio, but no Antonia. Rowlands has little screen time when compared to her costars, appearing primarily in the first act of the film. Antonia and Phillip Demitrius are an aging wealthy couple living in New York with their daughter Miranda. Phillip is questioning his path and happiness when Antonia decides she wants to reenter the world of theater acting; however, after her infidelity is revealed to Phillip, he escapes to Greece with Miranda and they build a new life with Aretha Tomlin (Susan Sarandon) and Kalibanos (Raúl Juliá). As the plot resembles Shakespeare’s The Tempest more and more, Rowlands is notably absent — but her presence in the few scenes she has is impeccable.

Rowlands was 52 when Tempest was released, and her enduring Hollywood glamour still remained. She and Cassavetes often took acting jobs to pay for their own films, and despite this likely just being a paycheck for the two, Rowlands shines in all her scenes. The chemistry between her and Cassavetes is so palpable, so magical; when they gaze into each others’ eyes and tease each other on the bed, it’s hard not to smile. When they bicker at a New Year’s Eve party they paint a believable couple, ending the night with a sensual kiss, “Auld Lang Syne” playing in the background. Rowlands shows off her singing ability in one scene with her theater friends, her smile and joy absolutely infectious. She’s playing a mother, sure, but her signature charm and the ease with which she slips into character is ever-present. Antonia lacks the typical depth most characters played by Rowlands’ have, but Rowlands herself still puts her all into the part. 

“Love is a stream. It’s continuous. It doesn’t stop.” This is the thesis for Rowlands’ character in the last film of Cassavetes’ that she acted in, 1984’s Love Streams. Rowlands is Sarah Lawson, sister to Robert Harmon (Cassavetes). Her life has been swept out from under her: she’s divorcing her husband Jack (Seymour Cassel), her young daughter Debbie (Risa Martha Blewitt) wants to live with Jack instead of her, and her therapist’s recommended vacation to Paris has failed. Sarah is in a time of crisis, a moment where she feels unlovable but remains determined to gain the love of her family back. In her vulnerability and neurotic breakdown, she seeks out Robert. In a rare moment, Rowlands and Cassavetes share the screen for the majority of a film, and sparks fly.

At first, Sarah seems a lot like Mabel Longhetti from A Woman Under the Influence, with her strange behavior: she adopts several farm animals when she feels Robert needs something to love; she has fainting spells that come with vivid dreams of Jack and Debbie, including an operatic musical number; and she has no direction as she hopes her husband and daughter will miraculously want her back in their lives. By the film’s end, Sarah determines that Jack and Debbie want her back because of a dream — by all accounts, Sarah is just as out of touch with reality as the characters Rowlands played in the 1970s. Her love is even deemed “too strong for [her] family,” an eerie similarity she shares with A Woman Under the Influence’s Mabel. She objected to this script at first, believing she was a “victimized person,” but Cassavetes assured her Sarah was strong. And he’s right.

Sarah has a kind of resilience that many Rowlands’ characters don’t. Minnie is broken down by Seymour in Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Mabel is just as in need of help by the end of A Woman Under the Influence as she was at the film’s beginning, and Myrtle Gordon is only barely able to hold it together for the New York premiere of her play in Opening Night. Sarah remains optimistic for the duration of Love Streams, convinced love always flows and happiness is always within her reach. Rowlands plays Sarah with a painful smile. She’s a woman that chooses to visit sick and dying people to cheer them up. Her entire life revolves around masking the grief of tragedy. Rowlands maintains such a warmth throughout the film, however, that Sarah never appears “victimized.” Nearly every interaction with Cassavetes is gold as the two work off their own history and love to create a beautiful portrait of inseparable siblings, bound together in their lowest, most loveless moment that they are able to find love with each other. 

When Love Streams released, Rowlands was 54. It was the final film of Cassavetes’ that she acted in, and it almost feels like a cinematic goodbye to working with Cassavetes. Cassavetes had already been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and, unbeknownst to Rowlands, was only given an estimate of five months to live while filming Love Streams. It seems Cassavetes wanted to make his most ambitious film yet and it shows. Rowlands is put to the test between herding animals into her and Cassavetes’ real-life house to singing an opera on stage, and not once does she falter. It’s clear in the characterizations of the women Cassavetes wrote that, to quote Rowlands herself, “He had a great interest in women and a great sympathy for them.” Even when Sarah struggles to find the words to express herself, even when she desperately tells her husband she’s “almost not crazy,” she persists and grows. Rowlands plays up the power love has, every smile worn but joyful, every scene she and Cassavetes share revealing a rich history between the two with simple glances and reminiscing. From their first scene together to their last, love is palpable, a tangible object the audience can see and marvel at. Cassavetes would live for another five years, passing away in 1989, effectively ending a 35-year professional partnership and marriage between him and Rowlands.

Rowlands refused to play the victim in this era of her career. In the 1970s, her characters went on perilous emotional journeys, stuck in their own heads and faced with physical abuse. In the 1980s, Rowlands’ characters gained control in a way her other characters had lacked. No longer did neurosis define her; instead, she held her own against everyone and anyone that stood in the way of her and her goals. Gloria can kill with a glance. Antonia stands her ground when Phillip yells and fights with her. Sarah never gives up her quest for love. Rather than be confined to supportive maternal roles, Rowlands displays a range never seen in previous decades. Instead of portraying “crazy, middle-aged dames,” Rowlands expanded her repertoire, playing against the type she defined in the 1970s. She would only continue to wow as her career continued.