Sofa bed in the dining room


Was it ever explained in the movie why Nick and Mabel were sleeping on a sofa bed in the downstairs dining room? I would think a house that size should have at least three bedrooms.

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

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That's what I was wondering. I guess the kids had all the bedrooms, but that's crazy. The whole film was crazy, and Nick and Mabel were crazy.




Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.

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Hahah! It was a peculiar arrangement. Not to mention they shoulda WD-40ed their door...it seemed to stick.

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My first thought was that it was an attempt so show their financial status. That the house was too small too accommodate the family. Falling in line with the father being overworked, etc.

But then I later suspected it was just because of some kind of lighting or camera setup constraints. There's a lot of problems with coverage in this movie. Parts where I'm dying for a reaction shot and not getting it.

Could also be the editor though. Good lord, this film needed some chopping down

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It makes no sense. Looking at the rest of the house, it was roomy. When you first enter the house through the front door, there was a large rectangular room (a foyer?) with almost nothing in it. If they were that squeezed for space and the house was not big enough for them, then all the space throughout the house would be filled with stuff. At the end they have a lot of people over for the homecoming party and there's room for everyone.

At least two if not all three of the kids were sharing an upstairs bedroom, so there was no reason for the parents to be sleeping in the dining room. Plus there's a bathroom right off the dining room, with a shower? Inexplicable. Maybe it was just another manifestation of their mental illness.

I also noticed in the kitchen there was hardly any "stuff" (non-perishable food in cans and boxes, dishes left out, appliances... the shelves were half empty and the counters seemed completely empty as far as I could see. A household as chaotic as this one would be a mess and with five people living there and constant guests, sometimes a houseful of them, multiple kids belonging to the family and from elsewhere, you'd have food and dishes and pots and pans and potholders and other stuff everywhere, all the time.

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Ebert's review touches on this by saying since the sofa is in the dining room, Mabel has no room of her own, her house is constantly filled with kids, family members, ... It makes it hard for her to sit down and relax which may be a good/bad thing.

It also makes for a great scene when the kids and their grandma arrive to find Nick and Mabel in bed and then the whole family ends up lying on the bed (for a very short time).

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-a-woman-under-the-influence-1974
7th paragraph

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