Essential Cinema: Diary of a Mad Housewife

Her husband Jonathan is a partner in a successful law firm. They live with their two young daughters in a luxurious highrise just off the park. So why is Tina so lifeless and exhausted? Well, for starters, her husband (Richard Benjamin, exquisitely obnoxious) is an egocentric nag who only seems interested in climbing the next rung on the social ladder. And her children are goggle-eyed aliens who constantly whine, when they're not being openly hostile towards her. At a party, Tina happens to meet George, a celebrity writer with a streak of narcissism a mile wide. He propositions her. Eventually, she gives in. And that's when the story really takes off.

But this is no angst-ridden drama of infidelity. Diary of a Mad Housewife, screening at 7 p.m. on Thursday at U of C's Doc Films, is a comedy that makes adjectives like "blistering" and "astringent" seem hopelessly toothless, and its humor is so dark it could serve as cover for a midnight air raid. When it was released in 1970, it was an immediate sensation. Park Ridge-native Carrie Snodgress became the next Bright Young Thing overnight, earning a Best Actress nomination. But Snodgress wanted no part of the Hollywood machine, even neglecting to show up at the Academy Awards ceremony. She dropped out of the movies for several years to live with boyfriend Neil Young and their son Zeke on his ranch. On the other hand, her co-star Frank Langella, who had been a theater actor for years, suddenly had a movie and television career; after many years playing moody Lotharios (cue 1979's Dracula) he's settled into brilliant character work, triumphing in last year's Frost/Nixon.