Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Bjorn Runge, Sony Pictures Classics, M 100 Minutes.
As the saying goes “behind every great man there is a great woman” and this is certainly the case in Swedish director Bjorn Runge’s enthralling first English-speaking feature film based on Meg Wolitzer’s best-selling novel of the same name.
The story opens with Joan (Glenn Close –‘Crooked House’) and her husband Joe (Jonathan Price –‘Narcopolis’) in bed when they receive a late night international call informing them that Joe, an American novelist, is to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The excitable parents soon share their news with the rest of the Castleman family including daughter Susannah (Alix Wilton Regan –‘Writer’s Retreat’) and son David (Max Irons –‘Bitter Harvest’) already following in his father’s footsteps with a book of his own.
Despite his dad’s complete disinterest in his book having earlier received considerable praise from his mother, David still decides to accompany both of them to Stockholm to be present when his father accepts the prestigious award.
Much to their displeasure they are joined by nuisance journalist Nathanial Bone (Christian Slater –‘The Summit’) intent on writing a warts and all biography on the legitimacy of Joe’s literary works including his extra-marital affairs.
During their flight and leading-up to the award ceremony there are flashbacks showing a young Joan (Annie Starke –‘Albert Nobbs’) an inspiring writer herself, being swept off her feet by Joe (Harry Lloyd –‘The Riot Club’), a young married literary lecturer.
However, on the eve of the award ceremony Joan reaches her breaking point, beginning to realise the real truth behind her husband’s success, especially how she sacrificed her literary skills, dreams and ambitions in supporting a self-indulgent husband.
Runge has made a gem of a movie with his direction of this riveting family drama that delves into the personal relationship between an egotistical husband and a self-sacrificing wife against the background of Nobel Award preparations.
What is more enjoyable apart from the captivating storyline is Close’s perfectly-pitched performance as the self-deprecating wife and her entertaining interaction with Price as well as Slater – particularly in the aftermath of the Award presentations.
In Runge’s rendition of ‘The Wife’ the saying should be “that behind any great man there is always a greater woman.”
Vic’s Verdict: 4 Stars
