An Unmarried Woman (1978)

The critic calls it Mazursky's best film to date and one of the strongest recent American pictures, praising its precise observation, humor that cuts deep, and emotional release. He singles out Jill Clayburgh's courageous, revelatory performance as creating one of the great recent screen characters.

The critic highlights the film's authentic depiction of a woman's multifaceted emotions and recovery process after divorce. Mazursky's fluid direction and camerawork underscore the ongoing, verb-like nature of becoming independent.

Jill Clayburgh delivers an assured and sensitive portrayal of a privileged Manhattan woman whose life unravels when her husband leaves. Mazursky shows a sharp eye for New York detail as her character inches toward feminism.

Mazursky’s film is a lovely, poignant character study that dramatizes the rise of divorce and resulting liberation in the 1970s without preaching. The director allows characters to roam freely, finding politics in the wrinkles of human behavior and delivering unusually lived-in characterizations.

The film makes a sensitive case for a modern woman's need for independence and is funny and buoyant, though it touches too many women's-liberation themes and has some hot air. Mazursky is deft but the picture feels virtuous rather than fully critical.

The film is very much a product of its New York setting and era, following a suddenly deserted wife who suffers yet moves toward a kind of feminism. The middle-aged characters are absurd yet perfectly believable.

Mazursky's screenplay gives Clayburgh a demanding role as a woman whose husband leaves her, exploring her path through support networks, dating mishaps, therapy, and a new relationship with an artist. The film resolves without easy answers but with strong portents for her happiness.

Clayburgh gives an extraordinary performance in Mazursky's ambitious comedy about a middle-class wife and mother whose marriage ends abruptly. The film has sharp moments and social observation but is ultimately not as tough or critical as its best scenes suggest.

The critic praises Mazursky's handling of the film's ambiguous ending as an expression of self-assured confidence and feminist liberation. They single out the final sequence where the protagonist carries a large painting through New York streets for its thematic consistency and emotional depth.