The White Review Film Series: Ed Atkins Presents Husbands

The White Review Film Series continues with visual artist Ed Atkins introducing John Cassavetes’ 1970 classic Husbands.

Writer/director Cassavetes co-stars in this drama of three middle-aged businessmen reviewing, if not coming to terms with, the realities of their lives. Following the death of one of their friends, Harry (Ben Gazzara) confides to his pals Gus (Cassavetes) and Archie (Peter Falk) that his marriage is in deep trouble. He then persuades them to embark on a 72-hour bender during which they try to relive their youthful exuberance, with varying success.

Unsurprisingly from the father of American cinéma-verité and his regular collaborators Gazzara and Falk, this is a thoughtful, beautifully-nuanced enterprise, much of it improvised, all of it satisfyingly provocative.

Ed Atkins is an artist who lives in London. Recent solo exhibitions include MoMA PS1, NYC; Chisenhale, London; Bonn Kunstverein; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, and Tate Britain, London. He is a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn award for arts and, this year, is included in both the Venice and Lyon biennales and Performa 13, NYC. He is a lecturer at Goldsmiths, London. 

The White Review is a quarterly arts journal.