Glenn Close is an actress I’ve known my entire life. She’s breathlessly dramatic, and downright scary when incensed. In The Wife, she gets a chance to show off. As the title character, a pillar of resentment, Close is easy to root for, and easier to full-on applaud when she inevitably explodes. I’ve always seen Close as a humble actress. She doesn’t take lead performances often and she eschews the limelight. That means when she takes over a film, it’s worth talking about. Glenn Close rules The Wife, down to its final second.
Directed by Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge, The Wife is set in the Nordic nation. Close plays Joan Castleman, wife of renowned author Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), the newly minted winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beginning with the congratulatory phone call, which Joan hops on the phone for, the film is a character study, but also a kind of documentary of what happens when you win the Nobel.
Pryce, who plays a version of Philip Roth in 2014’s Listen Up Philip, has the pedigree to play an author, and he’s perfect opposite Close. Bearded and erudite, he is the idol of his disheveled son, David (Max Irons), who accompanies his parents on the trip to Stockholm. Another, less welcome person makes the trip as well. Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater) is Joe’s unofficial biographer and he’s got a theory that threatens to undermine the award and destroy the family.
It’s thrilling when movies use flashbacks as effectively as The Wife does. In multiple vignettes, the film shows us how Joe and Joan met, as teacher and student, during Joan’s college years. She was a talented young writer herself and Joe inspired her. However, their relationship becomes something less practical in the present and the film’s big secret unfolds on two timelines as the modern feminist themes of Meg Wolitzer’s source novel surface.
The Wife, however, moves with the current of Close’s performance. The camera’s focus is clearly on her despite the characters in the film focusing on Joe. She seems content on the sidelines as the film begins. Joe is a commanding presence and soaks up the adulation that accompanies the award. She lovingly defers to him, but her husband never fails to mention his wife, “the love of his life.” He gives her absolute credit and she graciously bows.
Pryce and the rest of the cast are terrific in support. And Runge goes to extraordinary lengths to recreate the Nobel experience. The award show itself is magnificent. It adds to the old-fashioned “American in Europe” feel of the film. How Close transforms over the course of the film, however, is the big reason to see it. As calm and collected as she is at the start, she’s just as combustible by the finish as the truth is revealed and she declares herself a “Kingmaker.” Look for Close come Oscar time next February.
Source: Read Full Article