The Wife is an adaptation of a novel written by Meg Wolitzer about the effect that winning a Nobel Prize in Literature has on the Castleman family, specifically the titular character, Joan, who is played expertly by Glenn Close and is actually the second wife of Joe, played by Jonathan Price, the ostensible winner of said prize. They have two children: a pregnant daughter and David, a writer and son desperate for his father’s approval.
The Wife is an excellent character study of an overlooked, but clearly dominant and inscrutable woman. Joe is clearly caught up in the moment while she is somewhat removed and slyly observing everyone. She is a psychological martial artist using others’ strengths against them to keep them off balance and stay incognito, but after awhile she gets irritated by the gracious, but gendered assumptions about her life. Her real impetus appears to be her son’s regression in the shadow of his father’s spotlight, and her irritation over her husband’s inability to accede to the simplest request.
I didn’t expect for The Wife to be as slyly and abruptly funny as it is, particularly during one scene after the big ceremony. (Side note: my audience was simultaneously terrific and puzzling. A woman shouted “OMG” during one scene when you think that a professor is going to say one thing, but then asks another, which enhanced the viewing experience, but another audience member clapped when Joe received his award. Dude, it isn’t real. Why? You didn’t read his books and now are really happy that he won.) I would have ended up discussing brisket with royalty so I actually could relate to Joe. I also really enjoyed getting a bird’s eye view of how the ceremony works. It was actually quite a beautiful movie to watch from the scenes in Connecticut to Sweden. I didn’t realize that the director is Swedish, but it makes sense considering the discipline of the framing, the sumptuousness of the composition and the attention to detail, including the subtle awkward undertones that build up the tension in the movie. There is a blink, and you’ll miss it scene when the wife of another winner really notices Joan and can’t look away even after they move away from each other.
Close delivers really great work, but if you’ve been following her career, you’ll think, “Of course,” rather than express surprise. It is nice to see Price in a good movie as opposed to a mediocre one although his television career is strong with a recent single season appearance in Game of Thrones as the High Sparrow. Price had difficulty controlling his accent, but while it was noticeable, it was forgivable, and I’m happy to sign a waiver. I’m willing to be persuaded to the contrary, but Max Irons, Jeremy Irons’ son, played David too immaturely. He was more like a dull, sulky child than an aggrieved, wounded young man. Talk about meta father and son issues. Don’t do it, kid. I’m happy to see Christian Slater in the role as a wannabe biographer to Joe Castleman, but after all these years of saying that I don’t understand why Ewan McGregor is tossed into a movie like an afterthought in Miles Ahead, I yearned for him in this role. I never bought Slater as a sly, ingratiating, but sneaky writer with his own agenda, but McGregor could have struck that servile tone then surprised us when he pounced. I’m happy that Slater is getting paid, but he screams, “I have a sinister agenda, and you should be wary of me!” If McGregor wanted to flirt with you against your better judgment, you would definitely have the drink with him.
The only problem with seeing movies in the theaters, even good ones such as The Wife, is that the previews can inadvertently spoil the featured movie’s big plot twist by proximity, which did not detract from my enjoyment of the movie. The trajectory of the movie probably would have been obvious anyway for keen observers of human behavior, but I knew the minute that they entered their hotel suite what was going to happen. Joan goes for the books, and Joe goes for the gifts.
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The preview was Colette starring Keira Knightley, which shows a husband taking credit for his wife’s work, which is also the plot twist in The Wife. While I really enjoyed watching this film, I wonder if I rewatched it knowing with certainty the plot twist if the story still works. Maybe I’m remembering this incorrectly, but when they’re jumping up and down on the bed, isn’t he saying, “I won,” not “we won,” whereas later in the movie, during a flashback, he says, “we” after a similar triumphant turning point? His neediness and a desire for Joan to always be present is instinctual self-preservation. He is simultaneously a prisoner and a jailer that must keep her close or literally lose everything. When she is in wife drag, he makes her stop serving champagne and stand close to him. If he was the one who spent more time caring for the kids while she worked, and the nanny looks at her disapprovingly when he jumps between Joan and David so Joan looks neglectful although she was actually working, wouldn’t he have a better relationship with his children? Joe’s ingratiating praise works when you know the plot twist, but his high handed pronouncements about what his son needs to do to become a good writer doesn’t. I don’t know if the first half of the story works as a whole with what is revealed in the second.
The Wife’s depiction of gender roles is accurate, but also perhaps a bit heavy-handed. In the family celebration scene at home, the pregnant daughter and Joan are on one side whereas the men of the family are on the other. Joan is constantly between and spoken over by admirers to Joe-annoyed and interrupted. The offer to go shopping or have beauty treatments while her husband prepares for the ceremony is somewhat insulting, but I’m a professional woman and if you offer me a pedicure, a facial, a massage and a hairdresser who can work with black or mixed hair, I’ll leap at the gendered offer. Bye, honey. The movie briefly hints at how the men’s competitiveness and one upmanship leads to some rivalry and is a constant undercurrent to all the cocktail glad handing and bonhomie that Joan is constantly on the outskirts of. The warmth of the praise from men gets cold as you get closer to the fire, and I thought that element could have been teased out more to explain Joe’s seeking out women over the company of men instead of just making it simply sexual. The idealization and simplicity of simply being a mother as shown in the complete tone shift when their daughter calls to introduce them to their grandchild is rose-colored wistfulness.
At the end of the day, Joan did all of the work because she wanted to be read, and she liked that Joe read and recognized her greatness, which also explains her flirting with seduction. She doesn’t like to be noticed then dismissed. She likes to be noticed for who she actually is. She created a life with Joe though imperfect, and it is impossible to walk away from because of how intertwined they will still be even if they parted. The death was a little Lifetime movie for my taste, but it is not a happy ending though the composition of the return trip seems to indicate that she can take center stage finally, but now she can’t write and be read, which is what she really wanted. What happens now?