DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE

 

 

I honestly thought the opening scene of "Diary of a Mad Housewife" was a dream. Surely, I said to myself, no-one could be as obnoxious as the character Richard Benjamin was playing and if Carrie Snodgress's 'mad housewife' were to murder him, (and their two appalling children), she would be found not guilty. Later she meets and has an affair with Frank Langella; he's equally obnoxious but at least he's better in bed.

This was the film that launched Snodgress' career, (it never really went anywhere), and she did get an Oscar nomination, losing to Glenda Jackson in "Women in Love". She is superb as indeed are Benjamin and Langella but these are the kind of people you really do love to hate and were it not so brilliantly acted, written and directed would probably have been unendurable. A minor hit at the time it has now largely disappeared perhaps because it's not very likeable.