Review: The Wife

Though The Wife is ostensibly another story about the devoted woman living in the shadows of a celebrated man, it really is more about how Glenn Close, already considered one of the greatest actresses of her time, is truly a master of the contained performance. Those who only know her from Fatal Attraction and 101 Dalmatians may argue otherwise, but those familiar with the breadth of her work know that this is a woman who can convey tectonic shifts of emotion with the barest of expression. Take the closing moments of Dangerous Liaisons in which her defeated schemer wipes the powder off her face - not a word is said, but her face colours with the fury that she has been repressing and, when that single tear runs down her cheek, one feels both relish at her comeuppance and sympathy for the devil.

The Wife is a good film that owes its guise of greatness to Close, who is nothing less than magnificent as Joan Castleman, first seen in bed with her novelist husband, Joe (Jonathan Pryce), as he distracts his nerves with some sweets the night before the honourees for the Nobel Prize are announced. The next morning, they receive the call confirming that he has been honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature. They are ecstatic and, from there, the two attend a swirl of celebratory cocktail parties and plans for their upcoming trip to Sweden.

Accompanying them to Sweden is their son David (Max Irons), an aspiring writer who is in a perpetually sullen state at having to live in his father's shadow. Peskily tailing the family is Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater), who keeps slithering himself in their presence in the hopes of collecting information for his planned biography of Joe, which Joe adamantly refuses to authorise. There's a reason for Joe and Joan's reluctance in their lives being probed, and it has more to do with Joe's wandering eye, which takes a fancy to the pretty young photographer (Karin Franz Korlof) that has been assigned to trail him in Sweden. Flashbacks show the extent to which Joan, who once harboured dreams of becoming a writer herself, was truly responsible for Joe's greatness.

There's a pleasing unfussiness to Björn Runge's direction and a cleanliness in Jane Anderson's adaptation of Meg Wolitzer's 2003 novel. It's somewhat detrimental as it adds to the film's overly familiar atmosphere yet do the filmmakers need to do too much more other than capture the brilliance of Close and, to a lesser extent, Pryce and Slater? Everything one needs to know about Joan can be found in every flicker of emotion, the little earthquakes and its aftershocks, which Close beautifully expresses and calibrates to perfection.

The Wife

Directed by: Björn Runge

Written by: Jane Anderson; based on the novel by Meg Wolitzer

Starring: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Elizabeth McGovern, Max Irons, Annie Starke, Harry Lloyd, Karin Franz Korlof