"The Wife", A Review

There are hints all the way through "The Wife". "Your story is a cliché." "You can do better." "A good start." "You need to go deeper." "I didn't buy your characters." In a film about writing, we hear these criticisms about pieces written by characters in the film. But since self-expression is the single greatest drive in human existence, the writer of this film gave away her own thoughts on her own writing.

"Your story is a cliché."
A woman ghost writes her husband's novels because in the dark ages of the 1960's no one is going to publish a novel by a girl. Cover up ensues while husband receives accolades but in the end she "can't do this anymore". Well, duh. Living a lie is hell for anyone. Doing a cliché story is OK if you do something original and insightful (honest) with it. If not, it comes off as a bad TV episode.

"You need to go deeper."
"I understand: feeling guilty." That line was not in the film - but should have been. I can't stand Christian Slater but when I read he played a contemptible character I gave him a pass and sure enough he was spot on and actually the least muddled of the characters. In the end, when The Wife decides she's going to permanently perpetuate the public cover-up after her husband's death, I'd given anything had the Slater character uttered that to add a much greater complexity both to him and the film as opposed to his just slinking away.

"I didn't buy your characters."
Pryce and Close gave it their all in their parts. But when he asks her, "Why did you marry me if I'm such a worthless fuck?" Her literal reply is, "I don't know." I don't know either why they were married. It starts off as a classic student crush on a teacher and that's all we get. We can infer she's seduced by the success she gets from re-writing her husband's work but we're not given that sense of seduction by the film.

"You can do better."
This is supposed to be a feminist film but the agenda gets in the way. Now, I do think there's a woeful lack of female voices out there in the art world and I am starved to hear them and there's great satisfaction when we do. And there's no doubt some men feel threatened in their place by a competent female voice. But if there's a conspiracy to keep women quiet it's done by the women themselves. It's always easier not to rock the boat and risk whatever deal you have. Being crucified for speaking the truth is most certainly not gender limited, though.

"A good start."
In a film about re-writing it's a film that needs re-writing. Don't be so safe! Show how decades of deceit rot a marriage. Or better yet, she stifles her own (better) words while her husband publishes mediocre novels. Then show us how that saps her soul in order to keep the safety of her marriage. The film asks questions - and that's a good start - but simply asking without answering is not enough.

In the end this is another case of what a film aspires to be vastly differing from what it is. I love, love, love the idea of the untold story of a silent wife coming to light but I did not get that here. The only reason we have the Close character say she's not a victim is because the film is based on the idea she is (but doesn't want to come off that way). One thing the film got right is stating that writing is agony. That it most certainly is - at least without Emily.