An Unmarried Woman

An Unmarried Woman (1978)
Director: Paul Mazursky
Tagline: « The ups, downs, ins, and outs of starting over »
Actors:
Saul Kaplan
Martin Benton
Charlie
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating:  vote average (6’922 votes)
Quotes: [first lines] [Martin and Erica are jogging along the river] « Martin: Jesus Christ! Look at this! My sneaker's ruined! » « Erica: They're only $35. » [Erica takes Martin's shoe and cleans it off for him] « Martin: Fucking city's turning into one big pile of DOG SHIT! » [shouting at passing traffic] « Martin: Come on out and take a crap on me–everybody else is. Fuck! » [Martin lights a cigarette] « Erica: …been jogging for 2 1/2 miles – you're giving yourself lung cancer. » « Martin: I'll tell you something, Erica: the longer I'm married to you, the more you sound like my mother. » « Erica: Clean your own sneaker. » [throws shoe at Martin] « Martin: I think you wanted me to step in it. » « Erica: [laughing] You're going crazy, Martin. » « Martin: I am? » « Erica: [laughing] Yes. » [Martin tosses his shoe over his shoulder into the river. Erica jogs away, and Martin jogs after] [last lines] [a very large painting is being lowered to the ground from Saul's loft] « Saul: [shouting up to the loft] OK, Mario, I've got it. » « Saul: [to Erica] Can you hold this a minute? You got it? » « Erica: I got it. » « Saul: [Saul opens his car door, looks at Erica, and smiles] Bye. » « Erica: What about this? » « Saul: Oh, that's for you. » « Erica: How the hell am I gonna get it home? » « Saul: Take a taxi. » [Saul gets in his car and drives off. Erica picks up the painting, struggling with it a bit, and begins walking home] « Erica: How was the movie? » « Patti: Good. We saw the new Lina Wertmüller film. » « Erica: Yeah? Did you like it? » « Patti: I loved it. But, Phil thought it was flawed. »
Trailer: Trailer
Runtime:124 minutes
Plots: A Manhattan woman struggles with her identity as she tries to move on from a painful divorce. Erica becomes an unmarried woman, temporarily, after her successful, wealthy husband of 16 years leaves her for a girl he met while buying a shirt in Bloomingdale’s. This movie shows Erica coming to terms with the break-up while revising her opinions of herself, redefining that self in its own right rather than as an extension of somebody else’s personality, and finally going out with another man. Erica refuses to drop everything for Saul, an abstract expressionist painter, simply out of love for him, because he expects this of her. Loneliness is not her problem; but problems are brought to her new sense of independence by men that start flitting around this newly “available” woman like moths round a flame.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *