The best of 2018: The Wife
A review by Brooks Rich
This is an Oscar bait film to be fair. These kinds of films come late in the year or at the very tail end of summer. We don't hear about them in lists of the most anticipated films of the year. No one in 2017 was excited to see The Wife like they were excited to see Infinity War. This isn't that type of movie. There aren't any action set pieces in this film. This is a movie driven by performances, especially Glenn Close.
Close plays the titular wife to an author who has just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Their trip to Stockholm for the ceremony unleashes pent up frustration and anger between the two. That's really all I can say without getting into spoilers. Just know this is not a happy marriage.
The wife is a play as much as it is movie and that usually bothers me. But here it works and I credit that exclusively to Glenn Close. Oh my God what a performance from this woman. This is one of those performances that doesn't come around every year. Close is so subtle and so quiet in this. Her performance is what elevates this from a film that feels like a stage play to something completely made for the screen. The camera needs to catch the small movements she does with her eyes. The ever so slight changes to her face that she makes. A lot of the times Close is the background of a scene, acting without saying anything. You can feel the contempt going through her and see the thoughts going through her mind. When she goes big, it is very effective. Screaming is the easiest thing to do in acting but making it believable is one of the most difficult. Close achieves this task. When she finally lets it all out, we've spent an entire movie watching the cracks form in her demeanor.
The film is not a great film. It's a very good film to be sure but it gets a little slow at times. It is competently directed but this is a character piece. Jonathan Pryce is outstanding as the bastard of a husband but we've seen him do this before. The man was a Bond villain after all. The scenes with him and Close bring out the best in his performance. We believe these are two people who have stayed together all these years even though they probably can't stand to look at one another at times.
I don't like to reward a film built on a performance alone. That's not what should make a movie. Everything should come together. But Glenn Close is so tremendous in this, I can't help but praise it. This is a movie that stands completely on the performance of one person. People can be upset that she "stole" the Golden Globe from Lady Gaga all they want. Sorry, she deserved it and it's a crime if she doesn't win the big prize later in the year. The Wife is not the best film of 2018 but it is hands down the best performance anyone gave in 2018. This is acting, ladies and gentlemen. Pure and simple.
4/5
A review by Brooks Rich
This is an Oscar bait film to be fair. These kinds of films come late in the year or at the very tail end of summer. We don't hear about them in lists of the most anticipated films of the year. No one in 2017 was excited to see The Wife like they were excited to see Infinity War. This isn't that type of movie. There aren't any action set pieces in this film. This is a movie driven by performances, especially Glenn Close.
Close plays the titular wife to an author who has just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Their trip to Stockholm for the ceremony unleashes pent up frustration and anger between the two. That's really all I can say without getting into spoilers. Just know this is not a happy marriage.
The wife is a play as much as it is movie and that usually bothers me. But here it works and I credit that exclusively to Glenn Close. Oh my God what a performance from this woman. This is one of those performances that doesn't come around every year. Close is so subtle and so quiet in this. Her performance is what elevates this from a film that feels like a stage play to something completely made for the screen. The camera needs to catch the small movements she does with her eyes. The ever so slight changes to her face that she makes. A lot of the times Close is the background of a scene, acting without saying anything. You can feel the contempt going through her and see the thoughts going through her mind. When she goes big, it is very effective. Screaming is the easiest thing to do in acting but making it believable is one of the most difficult. Close achieves this task. When she finally lets it all out, we've spent an entire movie watching the cracks form in her demeanor.
The film is not a great film. It's a very good film to be sure but it gets a little slow at times. It is competently directed but this is a character piece. Jonathan Pryce is outstanding as the bastard of a husband but we've seen him do this before. The man was a Bond villain after all. The scenes with him and Close bring out the best in his performance. We believe these are two people who have stayed together all these years even though they probably can't stand to look at one another at times.
I don't like to reward a film built on a performance alone. That's not what should make a movie. Everything should come together. But Glenn Close is so tremendous in this, I can't help but praise it. This is a movie that stands completely on the performance of one person. People can be upset that she "stole" the Golden Globe from Lady Gaga all they want. Sorry, she deserved it and it's a crime if she doesn't win the big prize later in the year. The Wife is not the best film of 2018 but it is hands down the best performance anyone gave in 2018. This is acting, ladies and gentlemen. Pure and simple.
4/5
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