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But it is Ellen Burstyn in the title role who silences any reservations about the movie. There is an edge of anger underlying her performance, anger stemming not from some feminist manifesto, but from the waste of years and the intractability of the world she is finally free to confront. The sudden exposure of old, hidden hunger, her eagerness for new experience make her vulnerable in ways that keep startling her, turning up the tension. It is a wonderfully volatile, endlessly surprising piece of work, not as crazy as Gena Rowlands' in John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence but like it in value. In a period when there are not supposed to be any good feminine roles, Rowlands and now Burstyn have given us arresting and unforgettable portraits of how the world impinges on a woman and what is involved in the struggle not to be worn down to a nub. Richard Schickel