The Wife (2017)

From Google images

Joan and Joe remain complements after nearly 40 years of marriage. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing. And where Joe enjoys his very public role as the great American novelist, Joan pours her considerable intellect, grace, charm and diplomacy into the private role of a great man's wife. As Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work, Joan starts to think about the shared compromises, secrets and betrayals.- The Worldwide Web

Initial release: 17 August 2018 (USA)

Director: Björn Runge

Based on: The Wife by Meg Wolitzer

Story by: Meg Wolitzer

Screenplay by: Jane Anderson

Behind any great man, there's always a greater woman - and you're about to meet her. It is crucial you get to know this woman - many of us already do and don't even realise it. Joan Castleman (Glenn Close): a highly intelligent and still-striking beauty - the perfect devoted wife. Forty years spent sacrificing her own talent, dreams and ambitions to fan the flames of her charismatic husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce) and his skyrocketing literary career. Ignoring his infidelities and excuses because of his "art" with grace and humour. Their fateful pact has built a marriage upon uneven compromises. And Joan's reached her breaking point. On the eve of Joe's Nobel Prize for Literature, the crown jewel in a spectacular body of work, Joan's coup de grace is to confront the biggest sacrifice of her life and secret of his career. The Wife is a poignant, funny and emotional journey; a celebration of womanhood, self-discovery and liberation. Written by anonymous

When I chose to watch this movie at the Alabang Town Center, I didn't know what to expect except for the fact that it stars two people I greatly admire for their versatility, GLENN CLOSE and JONATHAN PRYCE.  When their younger versions were shown for a few minutes I thought Charlize Theron was playing Joan Archer, but I remembered that Ms. Theron is already forty-three years old.   ANNIE MAUDE STARKE, Glenn Close's daughter, plays the younger Joan, and the role suits her to a T.  The younger Joe Castleman was portrayed by HENRY LLOYD. 

WARNING:  THESE THINGS I LIKE TO SAY MIGHT BE SPOILERS FOR YOU.

I really don't know if these are spoilers because mom said she already read somewhere that the words were hers, Joan Castleman's, I mean.  She told me after the movie.  She just allowed me to make guesses during the film, and I guessed right.  

There's more to the story than just a man taking credit for what he didn't do.

For Joe Castleman, those were his ideas, and Joan wouldn't be able to write good stories if those were not his ideas.

The trouble is, someone played hound dog and sniffed that there was something rotten in Denmark.  Oops, wrong Scandinavian country.

Someone from Norway(I honestly don't remember if the call was really from Norway, but the description above says so) called Mr. Castleman to inform him that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.  Of course, the real Nobel Prize winner was DEREK WALCOTT, so this was probably set in a parallel universe, just like any work of fiction who present real awards and state a date or something. Nevertheless, the story was very believable.

Joan's reaction as she was listening via the extension phone was that of someone who wasn't pleased, so it was safe to surmise that she was the ghostwriter of Mr. Joe Castleman.  I felt my heart being wrung many times because I know almost exactly how she felt, but nobody I wrote for ever won a Nobel Prize, so it must have been harder for her.

As I mentioned before, my better work is not on any of my blogs, and I only showed trash to a certain awardee, so no one would think I wrote something great, but there were a couple of people who were awarded something that was meant for me.  I cried buckets of tears, but I couldn't do anything about it.  Besides, my grammar isn't perfect, so what am I complaining about?

My time would come one day.  Or am I just fooling myself?

My point is, I knew Joan was crying inside, but she loved the deluded man named Joe.

Joe believed in his heart that he deserved the award and Joan was only there to help him.

Off to Sweden they went along with their very talented son, David(MAX IRONS, son of Jeremy Irons).

Tailing them is biographer, Nathaniel Bone(CHRISTIAN SLATER), who was onto Joe Castleman.  He interviewed Carol, Joe's ex, and told Nathaniel that Joe's writing improved only after Joan married him.  She also told him that she forgives Joan and was actually grateful that she set her free.

There's more to the story than those aforementioned, so I hope more people would get to see this.

Only twenty people were in the theatre, more or less, so it's so sad that such a beautiful movie wouldn't be seen by many.

Now that I've seen the trailer I now know that I didn't really give spoilers ;-)  

THE BOOK

Thanks for your time.

Cast:

• Glenn Close as Joan Castleman
  • Annie Maude Starke as Young Joan Castleman
• Jonathan Pryce as Professor Joe Castleman
  • Harry Lloyd as Young Joe Castleman
• Christian Slater as Nathaniel Bone, a blood hound 
• Max Irons as David Castleman, the son who inherited his mother's great talent
• Elizabeth McGovern as Elaine Mozell, a great female writer who became so jaded (an important cameo)
• Alix Wilton Regan as Susannah Castleman, Joe and Joan's pregnant daughter
• Karin Franz Korloff as Linnea, Joe's personal photographer who has a crush on him