This adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s novel certainly delivers on its promise of a searing performance from Glenn Close, whose chilly kingmaker rivals Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood. As Joan Castleman, the wife of celebrated author Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), she travels to Stockholm as he receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. While watching everyone fawn over him from the background while holding his coat and gloves, Joan combs over her memories of Joe and their life, especially after wannabe biographer Nathaniel Bone (a very smooth Christian Slater) begins asking questions that malign Joe’s professional and personal reputation.
This mature drama highlights the frailty of artists, as well as the minefield of marriage and the sexual politics of 20th Century literature, without talking its audience to death. Still, The Wife is unlikely to be remembered for much other than Close’s performance, which is sure to draw attention come awards season.
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