i saw this at the theater when it came out, haven't thought about it since and i think very few others have either. it's not even in my 1994 Leonard Maltin guide. but it remained with me regardless, to the point that a chance encounter with the title just now provoked me to come here to say that all these good reviews are well deserved. i'm almost afraid to find and watch it again... no, i'm confident i'll like it just as much, even thirty-five years later. hmm, too bad i have to write ten lines; i thought i had said it all. what to add? that sometimes, as with this review, less is better, and film might be better with less than Woody Allen would have done with more. oh, and that Kubrick called it the best film of 1978.

I am so happy that I set my VCR to record this movie back in '96 (or'97) because it hasn't aired on TV since then...at least not here in NY it hasn't. This movie basically follows the friendship of two women in their 20's, living in New York during the late 70's (not the 80's). When one of the women decides to marry a man she barely knows, the other feels abandon and goes on a journey of self-discovery. "Girlfriends" is both funny and depressing, but depressing in a good way (if that makes any sense). I won't go into any further details about this movie. I will say this, though, if you're lucky enough to get your hands on a copy of this movie, watch it and you'll find yourself watching it again and again. I've lost count on how many times I've watched it. Yes, the movie is that enjoyable. I like it.

This movie set in 1978, is a wonderful analysis of women's relationships with their friends and how relationships with men can change their relationships with each other. It is subtle and nuanced and emblematic of the independent films of the 1970's.Claudia Weill was a women who tried to get into that very exclusive circle of directors which are very male. When this movie was made it was considered to be the first of many such independent films by women to try to climb that fortress.The acting of Amy Wright and Melanie Mayron at the time felt like it wasn't acting at all. Since they were both unknowns, you felt like you were snooping into someone's personal lives rather than watching two actresses go through a script.

In "Girlfriends," first-time writer-director Claudia Weill created a compelling depiction of a woman look at a woman growing, awkwardly and not without pain, into her adult life--that is, the life of an independent woman and artist in New York City. This film also offers what is inarguably one of cinema's most honest and insightful looks at the complex bonds between women, detailing with extraordinary sensitivity (and bits of quirky humor) the shifts, both small and seismic, that occur when one of the halves of a sustaining heterosexual female friendship effectively "leaves" to get married. The cinema verite quality one finds here may be in part a reflection of the tight budget and inexperience of a novice filmmaker, but it also gives the film an utterly compelling texture, something of the raw, uneven fabric of real life. Melanie Mayron (later "Melissa" on the ABC-TV series "ThirtySomething") gives an earnest, convincing, and touching portrayal of budding photographer Susan Weinblatt, a twenty-something woman learning to find her balance, to be true to herself, navigate a welter of complicated relationships, to deal with both loneliness and intimacy, and to come into her own as an artist. The film includes wonderful turns by Eli Wallach, playing the rabbi who oversees the bar mitzvahs Susan photo, and Viveca Lindfors as a New York gallery owner.