Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons
Glenn Close gives a truly masterful performance in award-winning Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge’s (Mouth to Mouth, Happy End) hugely enjoyable new drama, adapted from Meg Wolitzer’s 2003 novel, which has enjoyed great acclaim after premiering at TIFF.
She is Joan Castleman, an elegant woman who has spent forty years sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to support her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his high-profile literary career. Ignoring his solipsism and various infidelities because of his ‘art’, she has dealt with his often bad behaviour with grace and humour. But the foundations of their marriage have been built upon a set of uneven compromises, and Joan has reached a turning point. On the eve of Joe’s Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, she remembers their past while confronting the biggest sacrifice of her life and the secret of his career.
Poignant, funny and emotional, The Wife is a celebration of womanhood, self-discovery and liberation. Featuring an excellent wider ensemble cast including Max Irons (as Joe and Joan’s surly son), Elizabeth McGovern and Christian Slater, Close remains the film’s extraordinary emotional centre, evincing power, intelligence and vulnerability as a woman questioning the choices she made.
“A smart, supremely watchable and entertaining film […] Close gives a wonderful star turn”
The Guardian ★★★★★