Skip to main content

The Wife




Joan (Glenn Close) and Joseph Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) get the surprise of their lives when he is chosen to receive the Nobel prize for Literature. Over the course of nearly forty years, they have grown to complement each other, appearing to be a loving couple, and parents to their two children. But when they fly over to Stockholm for the prestigious event, Joan begins to reminisce about the time she met Joe as a professor of literature in 1950, and how they fell in love. Egged on by Nathanial Bone (Christian Slater), who seeks to write Joseph’s biography, she ponders the nature of their relationship and what she’s had to give up to make their marriage work.

Although it appears to have a simplistic plot at its core, ‘The Wife’ is a showcase in peeling off the narrative layers to get there. Director Björn Runge also displays how framing can tell an entire story by giving audiences the chance to read emotions from the faces of his brilliant cast. This is particularly applicable to Glenn Close. There are several instances as the camera focuses on her visage, especially when Joan Castleman contemplates the decisions she made, and you can practically see the complex series of thoughts running in her head. Little wonder that Close has been nominated, and won numerous awards for this incredible performance. Christian Slater is surprisingly sneaky as Nathanial Bone, who is a catalyst to the events that unfold. Jonathan Pryce also puts in a class act, but there’s only so much for him to do as ‘the husband’.

Jane Anderson’s screenplay intentionally orchestrates this as she puts the limelight on the female spirit. ‘The Wife’ is an examination of the adage – behind every great man, there’s a great woman. Even though the plot plays out as expected and sometimes gets too calculated, one can begin a dialogue on the reasons why the couple took certain decisions. It’s a timely discussion indeed, and if that’s not enticing enough, the masterclass on acting by Glenn Close will certainly convince you to watch ‘The Wife.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maaran

Even as early as about five minutes into Maaran, it’s hard to care. The craft seems to belong in a bad TV serial, and the dialogues and performances don't help either. During these opening minutes, you get journalist Sathyamoorthy (Ramki) rambling on about publishing the ‘truth’, while it gets established that his wife is pregnant and ready to deliver ANY SECOND. A pregnant wife on the cusp of delivery in our 'commercial' cinema means that the bad men with sickles are in the vicinity and ready to pounce. Sometimes, it almost feels like they wait around for women to get pregnant, so they can strike. When the expected happens—as it does throughout this cliché-ridden film—you feel no shock. The real shock is when you realise that the director credits belong to the filmmaker who gave us Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, that the film stars Dhanush, from whom we have come to expect better, much better. Director: Karthick Naren Cast: Dhanush, Malavika Mohanan, Ameer, Samuthirakani Stre...
3 comments
Read more

Kuthiraivaal

  Kuthiraivaal Movie Review:  Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder’s directorial debut Kuthiraivaal brims with colours and striking imagery. This is apparent as early as its first scene, where its protagonist Saravanan alias Freud squirms in his bed, suspecting a bad omen. As some light fills his aesthetic apartment wrapped with vintage wall colours, his discomfort finally makes sense—for he has woken up with a horse’s tail! The scene is set up incredibly, leaving us excited for what is to come. But is the film as magical as the spectacle it presents on screen? Kuthiraivaal revolves around Saravanan (played by a brilliant Kalaiyarasan) and his quest to find out why he suddenly wakes up with a horse’s tail, and on the way, his existence in life. Saravanan’s universe is filled with colourful characters, almost magical yet just real enough—be it his whimsical neighbour Babu (Chetan), who speaks about his love for his dog and loneliness in the same breath, or the corner-side cigar...
1 comment
Read more

Valimai

  H Vinoth's Valimai begins with a series of chain-snatching incidents and smuggling committed by masked men on bikes in Chennai. The public is up in arms against the police force, who are clueless. In an internal monologue, the police chief (Selva) wishes for a super cop to prevent such crimes. The action then cuts to Madurai, where a temple procession is underway.then we are introduced to ACP Arjun (Ajith Kumar), the film’s protagonist, whose introduction is intercut with scenes from the procession. Like a God who is held up high, we see this character rising up from the depths. In short, a whistle-worthy hero-introduction scene. We expect that Vinoth has done away with the mandatory fan service given his star's stature and will get around to making the film he wanted to make. And it does seem so for a while when Arjun gets posted to Chennai and starts investigating a suicide case that seems connected to the chain-snatching and drug-smuggling cases from before. Like in his pr...
4 comments
Read more