The Wife DVD 2017

     This film is an adaptation of a novel by Meg Wolitzer.  Joan and Joe Castleman are a married couple and they are traveling to Stockholm so Joe can be presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature.  They have been married for over three decades.  They have a son David and he would also like to be a writer but Joe is very tough with his criticism.  They also have a daughter Susannah and she is expecting a baby, they are very excited about their first grandchild.  Their trip to Stockholm is bringing out Joan’s feelings of repression, resentment and remembering Joe’s bouts of infidelity.  Joe wants to acknowledge Joan in his acceptance speech but she doesn’t want to be thought of as the long-suffering wife at his side.

      The award of the Nobel Prize should be the happiest time in the lives of Joan and Joe.  You can tell that some things are off in the beginning and there is a twist later on.  Why isn’t Joan over the moon at Joe getting the award?  Why can’t Joe give his son some slack with his writing?  There is also an author Nathanial Bone who wants to write a biography about Joe.  He's putting on the pressure but Joe doesn't want a biography about himself?  There is an interesting dynamic between Joan and Joe!!  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)    

    

99 min, Drama directed by Bjorn Runge with Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Max Irons, Christian Slater, Harry Lloyd, Annie Starke, El;Elizabeth McGovern, Johan Wilderberg, Karin Franz Korlof, Richard Cordery, Jan Mybrand, Anna Azcarate.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 86% critic 76% audience, Roger Ebert 3*, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Mark Kermode, RollingStone 4* out of 5* Peter Travers, Metacritic 77 out of 100 with 36 critics 7.3 out of 10 with 105 critics, Amazon 4.1 out of 5 with 655 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Glasgow, Dumfries and Strathclyde Scotland; Stockholm, Sweden.  This is the first English film that Bjorn Runge has directed.  Annie Starke plays the role of young Joan and she is the daughter of Glenn Close.  It is rumored that the release was held until 2018 to give Glenn Close a better shot at an Oscar nomination.  She was nominated for best actress for this film for the 2019 Oscars but the winner was Olivia Colman for The Favourite.  Close felt this film was relevant to her own life because her mother was in her 80’s and she used to say that she felt she had accomplished nothing in her life?