The Wife

An acting masterclass by Glenn Close as always, good stuff if a little uncomfortable to watch.

One of the simplest methods for making a film watchable is to set up a mystery and make the audience want to know what it is. What can make a mystery even more tantalizing is if you're given enough clues to get the general idea of what the mystery will reveal, but not the specific details. In The Wife, you get one such mystery. First you realise that something isn't right, then you realise the kind of area that not rightness is living in, and finally you learn the truth. It's really nicely done. Of course, accompanying this slowly revealed mystery is some standout performances by Glenn Close (isn't it weird that her name is Glenn, and you just accept it?) and Jonathan Pryce. They carry a lot of the film, just the two of them, even when surrounded by other people, you can only focus on their relationship and the cracks that have been forming for years. It's masterful stuff. The son isn't great, delivering a performance that is rendered noticeably bad by comparison. But overall this is a film that, whilst slow and quiet and having an ending that I didn't love, creates a really nice, interesting married couple and allows their relationship, and the mysteries it contains, to take center stage, to great effect.

Well done. Well-acted, well-written.

3.5/5 stars This is a movie of two halves. The first hour plus is really low key and almost boring. The movie doesn't seem to be really going anywhere and is only mildly interesting. And then it really explodes into an interesting movie with lots of twists, changing how you look at the first half. It is very clear why Glenn Close was nominated for Best Actress here. She has an understated power and dignity throughout most of the movie and then just has amazing emotion in the end. The scene of her at the acceptance speech is so powerful with how much she is able to express on her face without saying a word. Overall an interesting movie that takes a while to get going but is worth it.

Um belo romance a mulher que se esconde por trás do marido narcisista...

The Wife is more of the same. I didn't find it even interesting, original or refreshing and what disappointed me more was the fact of Glenn Close had been nominated for Best Actress with this role, when she just has the same expression during the whole movie.

So emotional, and a great perspective from a life of a woman who has sacrificed all her life to a man, because is the case of a lot of women in the world

Interesting family dynamics and acting. Good story about the sacrifices women make for the men in society.

The Writer's Spouse. "A writer writes, period,", is the cost of the decades old bargain between an introverted genius who wanted nothing else but to be an invisible observer of life, and the hidden inadequacy and resentment -- underneath the outward gratitude -- of the spouse, the muse who benefited with fame, glory, money, and their son's worship but who cooked the meals, gave the massages, tended to the kids, and performed all the public relations which brought the readers that enabled the writer to spend 8 hours a day, every day, creating literary gold. Whether that resentment can be used to justify the spouse's infidelity is open to debate.

The Wife is a quietly smart film that earns your respect even though it never truly dazzles. It does feel important though thanks to the timely subject matter. The film concerns the life and marriage of the Castlemans. Joe is a highly acclaimed writer who is about to receive the Nobel Prize. His wife Joan has been his loyal and devoted wife, but when they make the trip to Sweden the long years of support reveal a woman who subjugated her career in support of her imperfect husband. Glenn Close is excellent as the long suffering wife and there are many scenes where her quiet pain is etched all over her face. This all feels so relevant today as there are scores of stories of talented women taking a backseat to their husbands. It is a highly engaging film although it does at times feel a little stagy and stilted.