It is based on the book by Meg Wolitzer. The couple has been married for almost 40 years, and they are complements. While her husband Joe is vain, Joan is modest. He is regarded as a great American novelist, and Joan takes on the role of his wife, who is more private, charming yet complex.
The movie follows Joe Castleman as he is about to be honored with the prestigious Nobel Prize for his lengthy body of work. It is a story of compromise, challenges, secrets, betrayals and mutual love. Close is able to build the character from within in one of the most compelling, if not her best, acting performance of her career. She deserves to be nominated for the Academy Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role,” and hopefully win, in this competitive acting category.
This film is a real, intense intimate portrait of a complicated marriage, that is filled with drama and suspense, especially when it comes to making compromises.
Particularly impressive about her stellar acting performance is that it is controlled and subtle. There is a tremendous depth to her character, and sometimes, she is at her best, when she isn’t saying anything at all. Her nonverbal clues and facial expressions say it all. With six career Academy Award nominations that are evenly divided (three for “Supporting Actress” and three for “Lead Actress”), Close is long overdue for this prestigious award, and The Wife is the perfect role to secure Oscar gold.
Max Irons plays their son David, and Christian Slater also stars in the film as the biographer Nathaniel Bone; moreover, Close’s real-life daughter Annie Stark plays the young Joan in the film.
Read More: Digital Journal reviewed The Wife.
