OVP: The Wife (2018)

Film: The Wife (2018)
Stars: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons
Director: Bjorn Runge
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Actress-Glenn Close)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Okay, as I said yesterday I will be spending more time getting reviews out in the next few weeks in hopes of catching up a bit in my cinematic watching habits, and so A) you'll hopefully be seeing at least one review a day from now on until I'm caught up and B) these reviews for the most part may be written several weeks in advance, so I'll try to steer clear of topical jokes, though if one of the film's stars randomly gets into a scandal and I don't catch it, cut me some flack.  As it sits, now, though, I want to first get through some of our 2018 titles, and the most recent one that I haven't reviewed yet on the blog is The Wife, a film about a woman whose husband has just won the Nobel Prize, which is getting most of its press for being the film that might (finally) land Glenn Close her Oscar.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film, as I mentioned, centers around Joan Castleman (Close), the wife of a noted novelist Joe (Pryce) who has just won the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Obviously this is an enormous deal for the couple, and they set off for Stockholm with their son David, an aspiring writer who has a frosty relationship with his dad.  Along the way, we also meet a biographer (Slater) who is trying to find some angle into a book about Joe, likely attempting to discover something salacious or scandalous to get more sales for the author.  The film progresses with flashbacks to Joe and Joan's atypical courtship (she was his student, he was married, and he largely discouraged her from continuing to write), and we learn secrets about their marriage and both of their careers.

These secrets are the quintessential component of the film, and in my opinion are what largely makes-or-breaks the picture.  There are hints throughout, in my opinion hints that are not subtle enough to make it feel like a surprise later in the film, when we realize that Joan has been the ghost author of Joe's works.  In an effort to appease her young husband's ego, and because she believes the sexism of the era precludes her from being considered a serious writer by the "men who make such decisions" Joan hides her talent under her husband's name, giving him all of the glory in hopes of a happy marriage and life together.  As the movie progresses, we get a complicated look at what we're willing to give up to feel loved and to keep the people we love happy.

That's about the best spin I can put on The Wife, to be honest, as the movie is far more intriguing to discuss it's plot than the actual execution.  It doesn't help that Jonathan Pryce doesn't telegraph as a character we can have any sympathy for at all, and I struggled with understanding what Joan would see in him through the years (him as a young man, handsome, brooding, and her filled with no confidence made more sense than her as an adult woman, clearly aware that her writing talent was unparalleled considering the success of Joe's career).  This lack of understanding made most of Close's big moments in the second half fall flat to me.  Close hasn't been this good in decades, playing an introverted character well in a way I wouldn't have anticipated for an actress that is most known for her big expressions and larger-than-life characters such as Cruella de Vil or Alex de Forrest.  Joan has pretended in every aspect of her life for so long (lying to everyone, even herself, about what she and her husband have perpetrated), that even her cries to Joe for sympathy or credit feel like she's choosing her words carefully, playing a part because that young woman who once saw promise in her art died years ago.  It's a hard part to play, and Close wisely plays her as someone unknowable to the audience throughout.  I just wish the movie had had such subtlety, attempting to be 45 Years in its best parts but more frequently ending up too impatient and too generic to achieve something so special.