“Something Below the Surface,” a review of “The Wife” by Nathan H. Box

Recommendation: 4/5 Stars, SHOWTIME

Director: Bjorn Runge, Writers: Jane Anderson, Meg Wolitzer, Starring: Christian Slater, Max Irons, and Glenn Close

Plot: “A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.” -IMDB

Review: Staring at a blank page, all writers are equal. Before a key-stroke or pen hits page, we all possess the same talent, potential, and ability. As those first movements begin, the inequalities and inequities start to show. When the essay, novel, poem, post, etc. is through, the work should be able to stand on its own without regards to gender or any other variation. It should speak for itself. “The Wife” stands as proof that this is not always the case.

This film begins on the morning of a life-altering moment. Jonathan Pryce playing Joe Castleman is asleep next to his wife, Joan Castleman played by Glenn Close. Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. As he finishes the phone call with the Nobel Prize Committee, his wife listens intently on the other line, you are treated to pure and overwhelming joy on the faces of both. Soon, there will be press, parties, and acceptance speeches. Life is about to change. Yet, even at this moment, early in the film, we get a sense there is something below the surface. Things are not what they seem. This mystery is allowed to bubble thanks to wonderful writing and acting.

As the family arrives in Stockholm to accept the prize, the onion which is this film begins to reveal itself. Thanks to carefully placed flashbacks, we get a sense of Joan’s original ambition. She was once a bright-eyed college student with aspirations of one day becoming a writer. She fell in love with her professor, her current husband, yet the dreams were still there. Then, she was confronted with a moment of truth; men dominate the literary world and make it very difficult for women to progress. They act as gatekeepers shutting down female writers. They barely read their finished manuscripts and don’t honor stories told from the female point of view. Flashforward to the present day and we see Joan not as the writer in the family, but instead playing the dutiful wife.

This is the point in the movie when those things sitting just below the surface begin to rise. They are truths brought to the surface and into the light. It is here we begin to question who the true genius in this family really is. Is Joe the master the Nobel Prize Committee assumes he is or is he a fraud? It is also at this point where I can’t say much more without spoiling the plot. I will say this though; Glenn Close is a volcano and can conduct an argument scene better than any actor in Hollywood. The last 20-minutes of this film are worth the price of admission alone.

 This is a film that deserves to be seen. How underrepresented people are treated in this world deserves to be a topic of conversation. Who controls the world we consume deserves to be known. This film is just another example of a mission to bring truth to the light.

Be good to each other,

-Nathan

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