One of the most neglected of Cassavetes’s masterworks (it was held back from wide distribution by Cassavetes and released only after his death), Opening Night is a complex, multi-layered exploration of the nature of "performance." The film features Gena Rowlands as an actress haunted by the accidental death of an obsessive fan and fighting insecurities about her ability to play the role of an aging actress in a new play. Critic Tom Milne described Opening Night as a "strange, tortuous, entirely absorbing exploration of the myths and mystiques surrounding the theater."