The Wife

Dir: Björn Runge

2018

****

Based on the novel of the same name by Meg Wolitzer, Jane Anderson’s adaptation, directed by Björn Runge, is a simply-told drama with powerhouse performances. The story is told through a non-linear structure with flashbacks revealing the story’s big revelations. Set in 1992, we are introduced to husband and wife Joseph and Joan Castleman (played by Jonathan Pryce and Glenn Close) just as Joseph, an acclaimed author and professor, is informed that he has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Joan’s mood suddenly changes as Joseph revels in his success. Their son David (Max Irons), a budding author himself, idolizes his father but is constantly brushed off by him and his work received less than favourably. After a celebratory party with family and friends, both Joan and David begin to feel resentment towards Joseph but it is never clear why. Joseph, Joan and David fly to Stockholm for the award ceremony and are pestered by Nathanial Bone (Christian Slater), a biographer with a taste for scandal, who has been trying to ingratiate himself with the Castlemans for years. Joan's unhappiness worsens as adulation is heaped on Joseph. His attempts to publicly thank her for supporting him only embitter her further. Nathanial, sensing Joan's emotional state, induces her to talk with him over drinks and says that he knows that Joan has ghostwritten a major portion or even all of each of Joseph's novels. Joan does not admit the truth, but Nathanial is convinced by their conversation that he is correct. Meanwhile, Joseph begins to seduce a young photographer who is assigned to him, but just as he is beginning his seduction his watch alarms goes off for him to take his heart pills, cooling the moment and she leaves the room. Joseph accuses Joan of abandoning him, while Joan expresses her outrage over his attempted affair. The argument ceases when they learn that their daughter Susannah has given birth back home in the US. The film then takes us back to 1958 where we see Joan and Joseph meet (Joseph played by Harry Lloyd and Joan played by Glenn Close’s daughter Annie Starke). Joan is a literary student and Joseph is a handsome young married professor at Smith, a women's college. Although already an accomplished but unpublished writer, Joan is awed by Joseph's force of personality and advice that a writer must write. She meets a published alumna author (played by Elizabeth McGovern) whose cynical view of the opportunities available to female writers disheartens her. Two years later, Joseph has been fired for having an affair with Joan, his marriage is failing, and his first attempt at writing a novel turns out very poorly. Joan, a secretary at a publishing house, observes how the all-male editors dismiss women writers. When Joan criticizes Joseph's work, he threatens to end his relationship with her, claiming she cannot love a hack. Joan agrees to fix Joseph's novel for him. The work, titled The Walnut, is published and becomes a bestseller. By 1968, Joseph and Joan are living in a large seaside home in Connecticut. Joan is hard at work on a novel, to be published under Joseph's name, while Joseph supports her by cooking, cleaning, and caring for their first child, David. As Joseph and Joan converse, it is apparent that Joan's novel is a reflection of their life together, which bores Joan. A narcissist, Joseph has several adulterous affairs over the next four decades, and tells everyone that Joan does not write. Back in 1992, on the night of the Nobel ceremony, David confronts his parents after being told by Nathanial that Joan is the only writer in the family. Joseph and Joan deny everything. At the ceremony and the banquet which follows, Joan becomes increasingly upset by the accolades showered on Joseph. During his thank you speech something inside her quietly snap and she flees. After cutting his speech short, Joseph follows her and demands that she take his prize, but she refuses. At their hotel, Joan tells Joseph she is divorcing him. They argue violently, and Joseph has a heart attack. Prostrate on the bed, he begs for Joan's love. She tells him she loves him and he tells her she’s a good liar before dying moments later. On the Concorde flight back to the US, Nathanial offers his condolences to Joan. She tells him that if he tries to print anything that undermines Joseph's reputation as a writer, she will sue him. David overhears her. Joan says that she will tell David and his sister the truth when they get home. Jonathan Pryce and Glenn Close are both superb. Pryce is perfectly cast as his narcissistic and flamboyant character as he plays to all his strength. He does all the talking, while Glenn Close says twice as much with subtle facial expression alone. She is by far the greatest silent actor working today. Casting her daughter as her younger self was also a stroke of genius, it makes an over the top idea seem completely believable and all the more compelling. While the film has moments of beautiful visual flare, director Björn Runge makes sure the many of the scenes are muted so that the performances alone fill the screen. It’s very effective, combining the best of cinema and theatre and addressing the suitable balance between the two.