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The Wife

A sterling example of theater-like film.

The Wife

Grade: A-

Director: Bjorn Runge (Harry and Sonja)

Screenplay: Jane Anderson (The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio), based on Meg Wolitzer novel

Cast: Christian Slater (The Summit), Glen Close (Fatal Attraction)

Rating: R

Runtime: 1 hr 40 min

By: John DeSando

I can only imagine the number of mature women in the audience for The Wife rolling their eyes in sympathy as underappreciated wife Joan (Glen Close) watches her titanic husband, Joe (Jonathan Price), receive the Nobel Prize for literature. This drama, listed as a comedy but only in the loosest way, thunders with the realism that Henrik Ibsen helped foster.

The acting in this theater-like, unassuming domestic drama, is some of the best of the year. Their son, David, played with delicacy and insight by Max Irons, is perplexed and angry at his father for neglecting to talk to his son about a short story David wrote recently. He has the right confusion any son of a genius might have when his dad is receiving the top literary prize. Regrettably the film overdoes the tension.

Annie Starke as young Joan is a revelation, an actress of such subtlety, that she conveys only a hint of the stress to come from the clash of her gifts and the demands of his profession. Always she is subsumed under his glory, not with regret but rather with peaceful resignation to his greater good. By the way, Starke is Close’s daughter.

Paternalism is ubiquitous in the last half of the 20th century, with its deep-seated denial of the right of women like Joan to blossom along with their husbands. In addition to that commonality is the power of famous men, in this case a prize-winning author, to seduce women on a regular basis. Although Bill Clinton took the top prize, Joe is right behind him in the creepy sweepstakes.

Seeing this film is like seeing a fine drama in the West End of London—the writing (Jane Anderson) is almost, but not really, eclipsed by the acting. Would that the private stories of son and would-be biographer, Nathaniel (a fine Christian Slater), for instance, had more time, replacing, perhaps Joan’s early classroom recollections.

If for nothing else, see the re-creation of the Nobel process and be reminded about the glory of writing and the price to be paid. Finally, be surprised at a reveal that fits only too well with Joan’s frustration at being her husband’s handmaiden.

John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com

John DeSando holds a BA from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in English from The University of Arizona. He served several universities as a professor, dean, and academic vice president. He has been producing and broadcasting as a film critic on It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics for more than two decades. DeSando received the Los Angeles Press Club's first-place honors for national entertainment journalism.