I was on a flight to San Francisco earlier this week where one of the movies available to watch was The Wife, starring screen legend Glenn Close.
I’ve been closely watching the expert predictions for the upcoming Oscars and have noticed a similar pattern that puts Glenn and Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) as the front runners for Best Actress.
It’s an award that Glenn is quite familiar with but never taken home over her illustrious career. It remains to be seen if she will actually get nominated, but her emotional portrayal of a wife at her breaking point not only deserves a nod but an actual win all these years later.
The Wife focuses on the marriage between Joan Castleman (Close) and her husband Joe, brilliantly played Jonathan Pryce. The opening scenes of the film find them in bed with one another at their home in Connecticut back in 1992.
It is here that he receives a joyous call in the middle of the night about his Nobel Peace Prize win for Literature. He is lauded throughout for his writing, but little does anyone know that the work he is praised for really isn’t his.
Joan remains present yet very much in the background compared to her husband throughout the movie as they make their way to Sweden for the Nobel ceremony.
Along the way there are vital characters that come into play who shift their seemingly normal marriage. Their son is one of them, who has a lot of disdain towards his father due to him not reading his short story that he wrote.
There’s also a journalist, played by Christian Slater, who heads to Sweden as well for his award and happens to be on the same flight. He is wanting to pen his biography, much to his dismissal. His role of exposing who he really is plays a big factor in Joan’s meltdown later in the film.
Then there’s the young and attractive female photographer who was hired to take photos during the days leading up to his award. Her role is pivotal as it shows him for being the cheater that he is, something that was displayed in some flashback scenes as Joan and him initially got together when he was married to someone else.
Essentially Joan giving up on her dreams of being a writer to further her husbands career is only exacerbated when (spoiler alert) its discovered that she was the one to do all his writing.
You take that aspect, plus the ongoing issues with their son, the nosy journalist and the photographer with no shame, and it leads to her losing it in a way that showcases what a brilliant actress Glenn is.
I know a lot of us want Gaga to win as she really did an outstanding job as the ingenue singer in A Star is Born, but she might be too green in the acting field to win something as big as this.
I’m fine if she does, but it’s criminal that someone as talented and amazing as Glenn has been passed over for this award so many times. It’s my hope that she finally gets this coveted honor come Oscar time next year.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.
I completely disagree! I’ve
I completely disagree! I've seen both A Star is Born and The Wife, and while both Gaga and Close give fantastic performances, Gaga's showed way more range. Also, I'm a rock and roll guy, so while I've always appreciated Gaga's singing chops and have enjoyed some of her songs, I don't go out and buy her records. So this isn't me being a die hard Gaga fan who just wants her to win everything. But still, her performance completely blew me away in ASIB. Glenn Close's performance is more subtle and doesn't have that "moment" until the end. The only reason Close is really in the conversation for a win is because of the fact that she's been nominated 6 times. But the critics groups have not come through for her like they did for everyone else with the "overdue" narrative. Lady Gaga has the Golden Globe in the bag. Glenn could win SAG, but I think after losing the Globe it'll be unlikely. If anyone is going to challenge Lady Gaga this year, it's Olivia Colman for The Favourite.
Glenn Close should have won
Glenn Close should have won for Dangerous Liaisons in 1989. Jodie Foster got the nod largely because The Accused was a political virtue signaling movie, not something for the ages. The real competition should have been between Close and Melanie Griffith for Working Girl.
Glenn is indeed gonna win
Glenn is indeed gonna win over Gaga. That, I'm sure. I just hope the Oscars would vote for Glenn not because she's long due for an award, but because they've actually seen The Wife. But hey, that's awards show politics.