I was a big fan of Stephen King’s book of short stories, Full Dark, No Stars. Full Dark, No Stars had no supernatural explanation for the evil coursing through its human character’s veins. One of the excellent four stories in Full Dark, No Stars is A Good Marriage, a story about a wife who discovers that her husband is not the man that she thought he was. When I heard that there would be a film adaptation, I was eager to watch it, but not optimistic because I usually enjoy a movie more if I haven’t read the original.
Stephen King’s A Good Marriage is better than I expected-there are far worse film or television adaptations of Stephen King stories, but the changes did not enhance the story and actually detracted from some solid directing. The directing is reminiscent of early German expressionistic filmmaking complete with titled camera angles after the big reveal and a colorful, genial palette before the reveal.
First, I was under the impression that the story’s wife is no Joan Allen, who is stunning regardless of age-the original character was more of a homebody. The film’s version of the wife comes across as a real catch, an uber social, playful extrovert, which is helpful when she becomes pale, wan and introverted after her big discovery. Also making the wife more social means that she will have a close female friend, who raises the stakes. The story is strong because the reader knows what the character is thinking, but a movie can only rely on visuals. This change does not hurt the story unless you can’t forget the impression that the original story left me with: the wife was chosen because she would be delighted by and wooed by his unexpected attention, act as a convenient beard, not a potential target.
Second, the story’s husband is no Anthony LaPaglia, who is equal parts jovial and sinister, attractive and charming. He could be a talk show host. Everything that he says in the first part of Stephen King’s A Good Marriage sounds harmless, but laden with meaning if you know what is coming. Stephen King’s A Good Marriage makes him more overtly sinister to the wife than the story, particularly a few scenes of misplaced household objects. LaPaglia does an excellent job, but this change does hurt the story because no one in her right mind could spend a minute alone with him and fool herself into believing that she could make him believe that everything was copacetic. Stephen King’s A Good Marriage is more dramatic, but also less feasible.
Third, the final act with the wife and the ailing man was needlessly dramatic and not as simple, tense and elegant as the story. Stephen King’s A Good Marriage ruined what was an excellent third act by creating a brief misunderstanding and implying that the wife had basically become like her husband instead of an ordinary person dealing with extraordinary circumstances in an extremely clever and silently heroic way. If it were not for this big misstep, Stephen King’s A Good Marriage probably would have gotten better reviews.
Stephen King’s A Good Marriage is probably more enjoyable if you never read the story. Stephen King’s A Good Marriage is beautifully shot with excellent acting performances although it feels more like a tv movie, but if you read the story and have any memory of the original, you will find it needlessly dramatic and may not enjoy it.