What does the title mean?

My interpretation of the title is this (this is just an opinion. so I cannot say for sure if it is true): "under the influence" in the 1960's and 70's was a term that was used mostly to refer to people who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they were arrested. This would logically mean that the character of Mabel was under the influence of alcohol (or maybe some drug) which was causing such erratic behavior.

However, even though that is the literal meaning of the expression, I would suggest it to mean that the character was under the influence of something other than just an outside substance, it might be something more complicated. In this case, she might be under the influence, so to speak, of the male-dominated hierarchy in which she lived, or perhaps under such a complicated strain of mysterious forces that it came out as a kind of internal battle inside her mind.

Since John Cassavettes does write about characters with complicated inner struggles in many of his films, I think there might be reason to believe that the intention is to show a character who has lost control of her mind for many conflicting reasons. The way Mabel interacts with the children shows so many tender moments that we cannot say for sure whether it is really an example of a person with destructive tendencies, since when she is alone with them, she treats them lovingly and becomes almost childlike herself.

In general, I don't think there is a way to clearly translate the expression into another language to explain the meaning. It seems almost too complex, and so it may just be a hint that the character is beyond being just "mentally ill."

She was under the influence of mental disease; she was a paranoid schizophrenic. In other words, she was Bat S**t Crazy!

Boom.





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