**Spoiler Alert**
If you haven’t yet seen The Wife yet, please, stop what you’re doing and head to the closest movie theater.
The Wife, staring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce, is a must see for several reasons. Apart from the fact that the acting is phenomenal and the script is beautifully written; the themes the movie discusses are far too important to miss. Sexism, marriage, sacrifice, love, worthiness, and liberation are some of the themes the film elegantly explores.
Based on the novel by Meg Wolitzer, The Wife tells the story of a famous writer, Joe Castleman, who is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and his wife, Joan. The movie cautiously takes us on a journey through their marriage revealing information only as the characters’ impatience and resentment increases. At the beginning, what we are shown is nothing we haven’t seen before: the incredibly narcissistic and adored writer with a drawer full of indiscretions and the patient and pleasant wife that caters to his every need.
The movie picks up as Joe learns he will be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, which stirs unwanted emotions and a myriad of memories for his wife, Joan. Slowly, our main characters start to reveal that there is more to their marriage and Joe’s success that meets the eye. Elegant screenwriting reveals that Joan has been ghost writing her husband’s books since day one. Joe Castleman’s entire writing career has been a production of his wife’s “golden touch”.
Why you may ask? Sexism. The movie takes on a subtle but brilliant discussion about misogyny and sexism in the arts, in academia, and of course, in marriage. In one of the many flashbacks in the movie, we are taken back to when Joan was an aspiring writer in college. Her English professor? You guessed it! Joe Castleman. Their passion for creating characters and developing stories turned into a torrid, not-so-original love affair. What’s really juicy from life back then (probably 1950s) is this: female writers at that time did not get published, and if they did, nobody would read their books. Systematic and endemic sexism prevailed and Joan, rather than fighting it, found a way around it…or so she thought.
Years later, she has to confront the fact that her biggest secret is her biggest sacrifice. We become witnesses to the amazing transformation of the pleasant and ever well-behaved wife. Joan suddenly starts questioning her own worthiness and contemplating what life would be outside of the constraints and agreements of this unhealthy marriage. Let’s hear it for female liberation and empowerment!
As the audience, you can expect to feel outrage and frustration as you see the fakeness behind the lavish celebration of a fake writer who barely knows his “own” characters. You can also expect to question your own values and beliefs about sexism and how we understand it today. You’ll want to shake Joan for perpetuating sexism in the arts by not stepping into the spotlight and accepting the fame and adulation she deserves. But ultimately, you’ll feel helpless as you are reminded that love often has last say…and it’s rarely logical or concerned with social justice.