THE WIFE
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0 Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
United States, 1995 U.S. Release Date: beginning 9/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:41 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Profanity, mature themes,=20 brief nudity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Shown at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, 5/2/96
Cast: Tom Noonan, Wallace Shawn, Karen Young, Julie Hagerty Director: Tom Noonan Producers: Scott Macaulay and Robin O'Hara Screenplay: Tom Noonan Cinematography: Joe DeSalvo Music: Tom Noonan
Tom Noonan's 1994 debut, WHAT HAPPENED WAS=85, remains one of the=20 creepiest, most incisive motion pictures ever made about a first date. =20 It's a strange, disturbing piece that focuses on two characters trying,=20 and failing, to connect during an intimate evening. Now, some two years=20 later, Noonan is back with THE WIFE, an equally edgy drama about how an=20 unplanned dinner party tears at the fabric of a pair of unstable=20 marriages.
The setup is reasonably simple. We are introduced to Jack (Noonan)=20 and his wife, Rita (Julie Hagerty), a pair of New Age therapists whose=20 marriage is on the rocks -- they are profoundly incompatible and=20 uncommunicative. One snowy night, they are visited at their secluded=20 New York state demesne by one of their patients, Cosmo (Wallace Shawn),=20 who has brought his wife, Arlie (Karen Young), to meet his therapists. =20 When the spirited Arlie decides to invite herself and her husband to=20 dinner, the stage is set for all sorts of revelations.
Despite the inclusion of some low-key comedy, THE WIFE is basically=20 a claustrophobic downer (although not as claustrophobic as WHAT HAPPENED=20 WAS=85). In addition to dissecting the lives of his four main characters,= =20 Noonan rips into therapists in general and New Age therapists in=20 particular. This is not a nice, "touchy-feely" film about people being=20 healed by getting in touch with their inner selves. Instead, it's about=20 damaged men and women trapped in dysfunctional relationships. =20
The script keenly observes various elements of human nature, and=20 numerous scenes are startling in the clarity and intelligence with which=20 the characters are presented. On the other hand, Noonan has a tendency=20 to write pretentious dialogue, and certain passages are cluttered with=20 needless verbiage. For the most part, the intimate moments work; those=20 that concentrate on globally philosophical issues tend to sputter.
Karen Young, who has had small parts in a number of major studio=20 features, is explosive as the unpredictable Arlie, and, in many ways,=20 her vivacity holds the film together. Wallace Shawn is his usual steady=20 self as a neurotic, nearly-"normal" man who "can't go on" with his=20 marriage as it is. Noonan, with a quietly-intense, almost-sinister=20 performance, paints an unsettling portrait of Jack as someone who=20 derives sadistic pleasure from probing open emotional wounds. Julie=20 Hagerty, better known for comic roles (AIRPLANE, WHAT ABOUT BOB?), plays=20 a woman who craves closeness with an aloof husband.
The technical and visual aspects of THE WIFE engage the attention. =20 Noonan constantly toys with odd camera angles, distorted perspectives,=20 and shots involving reflected images. One scene has characters viewed=20 through a window overlapping those reflected in it. Another uses=20 mirrors to depict two physically-distanced conversations in the same=20 frame. As in WHAT HAPPENED WAS=85, lighting is used to great effect. On=20 one occasion, the light from a flickering fire playing on Jack's=20 features gives him a demonic appearance.
With its echoes of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLFE? and its use of=20 the European style of moving the story forward through dialogue rather=20 than action (this could almost be Eric Rohmer at his grimmest), THE WIFE=20 consistently challenges viewers. It stumbles occasionally (sometimes=20 noticeably), and isn't as hypnotizing as WHAT HAPPENED WAS=85, but many of= =20 Noonan's observations about how men and women interact are on-target. =20 By turns uncomfortable and fascinating, THE WIFE offers a unique=20 perspective of the age-old institution of marriage. =20
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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