The Wife

Fantastic, just fantastic! Glenn Close’s perfect magnetism as Joan Castleman, novelist Joe Castleman’s wife, sucks you into the film and never lets you go. The film tracks back and forth through the couple’s thirty-plus year marriage as the author rises to stardom and crescendos with a Nobel Prize award, but all is not as it seems in the relationship. It could be easy to argue that the film is too melodramatic, but that’s missing the nuance of the characters and the complexity of their motivations. Jonathan Pryce does a fantastic job as the writer, keeping him empathic as his many foibles are laid bare, but it’s Close who’s really mesmerizing to watch. This film is not to be missed.