 |
| Images courtesy of Strand Releasing |
Filmmaker/producer/novelist Tom Dolby (not to be confused
with the musician Thomas Dolby) is a name that might fly beneath your silver
screen radars who nevertheless is affiliated with some films you probably have
seen. The founder and president of the
production company Water’s End Productions which helped produce such films as
Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name and Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods,
Tom Dolby initially began his filmmaking career co-directing the Patricia
Clarkson dramedy Last Weekend in 2014.
One of the first films in thirteen years to be shot on location in Lake
Tahoe, California it was met with mixed reviews who found the film half baked
but nevertheless praised the central performance.
Unfortunately that also seems to be the case for the
director’s next film, the dementia drama The Artist’s Wife. A picture with two really great performers in
a film far beneath them, it was one of many movies around that time to fall
victim to a shuttered post-COVID streaming release rather than theatrical as
originally planned. In a film verse of
dementia dramas including Amour, Falling, The Father, Supernova
and Vortex which all strike hard emotionally, The Artist’s Wife with
its classy performances, artistic setting and Dolby Atmos sound should’ve
absolutely ranked among the ones listed as a powerhouse. Sadly, however, despite dealing occasionally
intimately with elderly, mature sexuality, it didn’t make much of an impression
and doesn’t give Bruce Dern a whole lot to do beyond his usual brand of
cantankerousness seen recently in Nebraska or The Hateful Eight. Lena Olin tries but the story of a woman who
has loomed in her husband’s shadow for years finally getting her moment rings
somewhat underwhelming.
Claire Smythson (Lena Olin) is an artist who put her own
career aspirations on hold in service to her much more prominent artist husband
Richard Smythson (Bruce Dern) who sparked a prolific and extensive career in
painting. However on the cusp of a new
art exhibition, he begins behaving erratically in the art classroom with vulgar
condescending expletives and offending his students. Diagnosed officially with dementia, Claire
does her best to try and buffer the fallout of his deteriorating psyche and
offensive behavior. After destroying a
student’s painting in class, he is fired and sent home. Meanwhile Claire knowing her husband isn’t
long for this world tries to reconnect him with his estranged lesbian daughter
Angela (Juliet Rylance) and their grandson Gogo (Ravi Cabot-Conyers). Things seem amicable at first but as his
condition declines further soon Claire returns home to find her husband has
destroyed all of their furniture in an effort to create the ultimate painting,
Claire must decide whether or not to keep standing with her husband or try to
salvage their legacy with her stepping up to the podium and becoming the artist
she was destined to be.
Shot in scope widescreen by Ryan Earl Parker with warm piano
renderings by Jeff Grace and rendered in 8-track Atmos audio, one goes into The
Artist’s Wife anticipating a heavy hitter about watching a loved one lose
their sense of self. While yes indeed it
has moments that stick, particularly how it deals with the still
very-much-in-love couple, critics indeed noticed similarities to the 2017 drama
The Wife starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce involving a prominent
author whose wife may have ghostwritten much of his works. Bruce Dern is good but again isn’t asked to
deal with nearly as much heavy lifting as his co-star Lena Olin who at times
stares into her husband’s blank angry eyes jaw dropped and gob smacked with
shock and incredulity. Co-starring
Stefanie Powers and Juliet Rylance, it primarily consists of Claire’s journey
in trying to step out of the shadows while still trying to shield her husband
from publicly humiliating himself.
Originally shown at festivals in 2019 before COVID-19 forced
it onto streaming platforms in 2020, The Artist’s Wife given the content
and caliber of the two leads should’ve been a substantial hard hit of the
viewer. And instead it doesn’t wind up
amounting to a whole lot more than a glorified Hallmark or Lifetime made for
television drama which is really a shame because you can tell watching it they
designed it for the big theater setting.
Lena Olin is quite good in it but compared to some of the other dementia
dramas mentioned earlier it really pales.
After being completely pulverized by the likes of The Father and
particularly Vortex which went as far as a moviegoer can endure, The
Artist’s Wife comes off as something of an ineffectual whimper. Not a terrible movie by any means, just a
tragically mediocre one.
--Andrew Kotwicki
