REVIEW: The Wife

Directed by Björn Runje
2018 Drama
1 hour 40 minutes
From Sony Pictures

Starring 
Glenn Close
Jonathan Pryce
Max Irons
Christian Slater
Harold Lloyd
Annie Starke
Elizabeth McGovern

I could imagine that the old adage behind every successful man is a woman was written on a sign and posted on the set of this film as a guide to move the action toward its conclusion 100 minutes later.  I once read that opened up a bit more with behind every man's success there is a woman and behind every woman's failure there is a man who discourages her, saying you can't do what I can.   This is the mantra for this thoughtful film.

The wife here is an intelligent, self-deprecating, understanding and devoted woman married to a charming, passionate, eccentric writer who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Their trip to Stockholm to collect the prize, with their aspiring-writer adult son in tow, results in a breakdown of all they've held sacred.

We become aware that she is his everything... she obviously handles all household duties so that he can write.  Her kind nature extends to ignoring his countless infidelities and fussing over his health issues and seeing to it he stays healthy.  We have no doubt that she is the one who holds it all together allowing the marriage to proceed.

There are numerous flashbacks with other actors playing the couple at younger ages.  At first this annoyed me some but it soon became apparent that we not only need to know about their shared history but the flashback is the only way we are going to accomplish it.  They meet when he is a young, married college professor and she is his student.

Both are annoyed by a writer on the plane to Sweden who wants to write his biography. The biographer schmoozes the wife by telling her he doesn't think spouse's get enough credit.  By the time they arrive, what should have been a joyous occasion becomes a time of confusion, suspicion and acrimony and results in an ending that most will not see coming.

While this is just the kind of story that gets my juices flowing and without question I liked it, I thought it needed a bit more excitement... punch... liveliness... oomph along the way (except at the end, which is utterly satisfying in this regard).  It seemed more static and reserved at times than was warranted. 

The highlight of The Wife is the acting.  There has been much talk about an Oscar finally coming to Close.  She is the most nominated living actor to not secure a win.  For the record, those films are The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Albert Hobbs (2011).  It is a wonderfully understated performance (which goes along with the film, in general), shaded, nuanced, both quiet and explosive when needed.  All the lady has learned about her craft is seen on her face.

I've always like Pryce from the time I saw him in Carrington (1995), enjoying him as Juan Peron in Evita (1996) and having fun with him in De-Lovely (2004).  This is a wonderful role for him and I confess I do not understand why his acting here isn't as ballyhooed as Close's.

Irons brings a welcomed edginess to the son.  Lloyd and Starke are both on the mark as the leads' younger versions (she seems to have studied Close's mannerisms) and Slater is appropriately unctuous as the biographer.

I expect those who write would have an extra interest in the film but it contains an insightful look into a marriage and the roles that men and women inhabit.



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