Ferociously independent American filmmaker John Cassavetes directs wife and longtime creative collaborator Gena Rowlands in an arresting, immersive film about the unraveling of an aging stage actress after she witnesses the death of a young fan. Drawing on that tragic scene for a pivotal moment in All About My Mother, Almodóvar reinforces his admiration for middle-aged female stage performers in the closing dedication to his 1999 film by singling out Rowlands by name, whose gravity and spirit in Opening Night would easily find their place within any Almodóvarean melodrama.