Gena & John | Ville de Luxembourg

Indie Cinema’s Iconic Power Couple

With the death of Gena Rowlands last August, the queen of American independent cinema left us. Rowlands was a prolific actress who worked well into her eighties and with many different directors. But she did her most iconic work in films directed by her husband, John Cassavetes. Always a live-wire act, for him she incarnated strong-willed women on the verge of a breakdown, an epiphany or acting on desires that she herself didn’t much understand, except that is was clear that it is was both urgent and pertinent. Rowlands, born in 1930, wasn’t a feminist through advocating for examples of strong, idealized women. She was more interested in suggesting women were a man’s equal by according them the same complexity, showcasing their qualities as well as their very human flaws.

I push farther for John than for any other director. Not because he’s my husband but because he is the kind of artist that he is. Other actors feel the same way – and they’re not even married to him!

Programme

Lu 03 | 03 à 20h30 : Faces (USA 1968 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 129’)
▸ 3 nominations including Best Original Screenplay, Oscars 1969

Je 06 | 03 à 20h30 : Gloria (USA 1980 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 121’)
▸ Lion d’or, Festival de Venise, 1980 ; Nominee Best Actress (Rowlands), Oscars 1981

Lu 17 | 03 à 19h00 : Love Streams (USA 1984 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 140’)
▸ Goldener Bär, Berlinale, 1984

Je 20 | 03 à 19h00 : A Woman Under the Influence (USA 1974 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 147’)
▸ Nominee Best Director, Best Actress (Rowlands); Oscars 1975

Lu 24 | 03 à 18h30 : Gloria (USA 1980 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 121’)
▸ Lion d’or, Festival de Venise, 1980 ; Nominee Best Actress (Rowlands), Oscars 1981

Me 26 | 03 à 18h30 : Minnie and Moskowitz (USA 1971 | John Cassavetes | vostFR | 115’)
▸ Nominee Best Comedy Written for the Screen, Writers Guild of America 1973