Another showcase of the acting powerhouse that is Gena Rowlands with Cassevetes exploring the theatre milieu as the lead actress of a highly-anticipated play becomes bugged by existential guilt and disenchantment.
Review #2,748
Dir. John Cassevetes
1977 | USA | Drama | 144 min | 1.85:1 | English
Not rated – likely to be NC16 for some sexual references
Cast: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart
Plot: Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic who is a few days from the opening night of her play, concerning a woman distraught about aging. After one of Myrtle’s fans is killed in a car accident while trying to get her attention, she internalizes the tragedy and goes on a spiritual quest.
Awards: Won Silver Bear – Best Actress (Berlinale)
Source Orb International
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Acting; Performance; Existential Guilt
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
Viewed: Criterion Blu-ray
Spoilers: No
One of John Cassevetes’ later works, Opening Night featured his wife Gena Rowlands in another showcase of the acting powerhouse she had been all her career. Here she plays Myrtle Gordon, a famous actress who stars in a highly-anticipated play that will soon open on Broadway.
As throngs of hysterical autograph-seeking fans surround her whenever she leaves the exit door after sneak previews, a young woman with rather erratic behaviour causes palpable concern in Myrtle one night.
This woman would meet a tragic end only moments later (this reminded me of a similar scene in Almodovar’s 1999 masterpiece, All About My Mother), which haunts Myrtle.
Bugged by guilt which escalates into a full-blown existential meltdown, Rowlands’ character becomes disenchanted not just with herself, but her role in the play, which she unexpectedly finds ‘issues’ with.
“I’m in trouble. I’m not acting.”
Cassevetes, who also stars as an actor in the same play (and also Myrtle’s ex-lover), builds this brewing tension one rehearsal after another to the point that the play’s opening night is at high risk of being sabotaged by Myrtle’s debilitating mental and physical (she’s severely alcoholic) state.
With excellent supporting roles by Ben Gazzara and Joan Blondell as the director and playwright respectively, Opening Night brings us deep into the theatre milieu and immerses us in the intricacies of ‘acting’, be it philosophical or concerning identity politics.
Because of the staged, sometimes spontaneous, nature of theatre, Cassevetes also invites us to peel the layers between real and ‘reel’ life, sparking one of the great meta moments of his filmography when he and Rowlands seem to magically shed all their various ‘roles’ and become a bickering husband-and-wife comedy duo—but are they also essentially still role-playing?
One thing’s for sure, Opening Night is serious business amid all the chaos on the stage as life imitates art and vice versa.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 
Great review as always. I haven’t heard of this film so I’m not sure whether I will ever watch it. That being said, I’ve often been drawn toward films about theatre. When I was a young child, I once dreamt of becoming a theatre actor. Recently, I really enjoyed the depiction of theatre in “Marriage Story”. Here’s why I adored it:
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