Summary
The Notebookis often celebrated for the acting performances by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in their leading roles. However, actor Gena Rowlands stars in a supporting role in the 2004 film that pays homage to her Oscar-nominated performance in 1974’sA Woman Under the Influence. There’s an odd connection between these seemingly unrelated movies. Both films feature passionate romantic partners, are anchored by outstanding acting roles, and aim to define what it means to love someone truly.
These are the founding tenets of filmmaking established by latedirector John Cassavetes, lifelong husband of Gena Rowlands. This family tradition draws a bridge between his 1974 filmA Woman Under the Influenceand his son’s adaptation ofThe Notebook. Cassavetes and his stubborn mindset were essential to pioneering the postwar independent film industry, writing and directing monumental movies starring Gena Rowlands such asGloria(1980),Opening Night(1977), andMinnie and Moskowitz(1971). It’s difficult separating father from son,where a filmmaking tradition centered on family, loyalty, and stubbornness leads to elevated acting performances.
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Allie and Noah’s ending in The Notebook left a few questions unanswered, and the streaming version’s alternate ending only adds to the confusion.
A Woman Under The Influence Showcases The Rowlands-Cassavetes Collaboration
How Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes Defined Indie Cinema
As one of the most prolific actor-director duos, Gena Rowlands and husband John Cassavetes have collaborated on a total of 10 films together. Their most notable work comes in 1974’sA Woman Under the Influence, with Rowlands and Cassavetes receiving Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Director respectively. The film follows housewife Mabel Longhetti as she navigates bewildering alcoholism while raising her three children and balancing marital problems. Starring opposite Peter Falk, Rowlands brings a commanding presence to the character of Mabel that is so raw and pure it becomes comparable to improvisation.
The New York filmmaker boasts a career marked by independence from the studio system, loyalty to key collaborators, and depiction of normal real life situations.
This resounding fusion of character and actor is undoubtedly a by-product of John Cassavetes’ direction, where longer takes and a commitment to on-screen performance help actors find their rhythm without being too laborious. The theater-like approach to rehearsals and character development is essential to building Cassavetes’ family-style work process.Known for his stubbornness and bullish personality, the New York filmmaker boasts a career marked by independence from the studio system, loyalty to key collaborators, and depiction of normal real-life situations.
The Notebook Retains The Traditions of Rowlands-Cassavetes Filmmaking
How The Notebook Applies Cassavetes Filmmaking To A Studio Film
InA Woman Under the Influence, the mothers of both Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes play small roles as the fictional mothers of Mabel and Nick Longhetti. This family tradition is continued through Nick Cassavetes’The Notebook, ashe casts his mother Gena Rowlands as the elder version of Rachel McAdams’ Allie Calhoun. The family traditions continue in other ways, as Cassavetes pays homage to the tense family dramas from his father’s filmography with this contemporary rendition of a proto-New Hollywood filmmaking style.
Despite relying on more conventional shot types, Nick Cassavetes’ dedication to acting performances helps buoyThe Notebookpast its melodrama expectations. In many ways, this film reflects the Cassavetes rawness more than it relates to otherNicholas Sparks adaptations, and the director’s involvement in shaping the script was instrumental in grounding the characters. In the hands of another director,The Notebookcould have been a formulaic melodrama with little appeal. By applying the Cassavetes filmmaking tradition, the film transforms into a spiritual homage to 1974’sA Woman Under the Influence.
The Notebook
Cast
Adapted from Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same name, The Notebook is a romantic drama film that follows a couple who fall in love during the 1940s. Duke, an older man, recounts the story of two young lovers whose lives never lined up quite right to a fellow patient in his nursing home. Reading from the notebook pages, the movie keeps flashing from the present into the past to tell the story of the one that got away.
