70s Domestic Discontent: Diary of a Mad Housewife + Portnoy's Complaint
Diary of a Mad Housewife
Frank Perry, USA, 1970, 35mm, 95m
In this trenchant comedy-drama based on Sue Kaufman’s novel, the unhappy wife (Carrie Snodgress) of a supercilious lawyer (Richard Benjamin) who treats her like a doormat embarks on an affair with a charismatic writer (Frank Langella) but finds the road to self-realization far from easy. A biting satire on male self-absorption and female masochism.
Followed by:
Portnoy’s Complaint
Ernest Lehman, USA, 1972, 35mm, 101m
In his sole directing credit, the writer of North by Northwest, The Sound of Music, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? adapts Philip Roth’s breakthrough novel. In a series of flashbacks, a young Jewish bachelor (Richard Benjamin) recounts his love life and mother issues to his psychoanalyst. Featuring Karen Black, Jill Clayburgh, and Jeannie Berlin as the women in Portnoy’s life, and Lee Grant as Mommy.