Sony Pictures Classics announced t0day it has acquired Björn Runge’s new drama “The Wife” which debuted at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. At first glance this might not seem like acquisition news worthy of your attention, except for the fact the film earned rave reviews for Glenn Close, an actress still waiting for that final, Oscar close up.
A six-time Academy Award winner, the fact Close has never won or been honored with a lifetime achievement award has had many wondering when the legendary actress will get her due. She last earned a nomination in 2012 for “Albert Nobbs,” a period drama she also produced. Before Nobbs her last nod was in 1989 for “Dangerous Laisions,” her fourth that decade. In the interim, Close won her second Tony Award (“Sunset Boulevard”), made some money (“101 Dalmatians” and its sequel), tried the Sundance independent route with little luck (“Heights,” “Nine Lives,” “The Chumscrubber”), won some Emmy Awards (“Damages”) and, oh yeah, returned as Norma Desmond in a lauded West End production of “Boulevard” that is now the impetus for a big screen adaptation from Paramount. And now there’s “The Wife.”
Runge’s drama centers on the wife in question (Close), a woman who has put her own dreams and ambitions to the side to assist in the literary career of her husband (Jonathan Pryce). On the eve of his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature she reaches her “breaking point” (the press release’s words, not mine) and secrets are dramatically revealed. The film also stars Christian Slater and Max Irons.
The Swedish production was sort of a head-scratcher at TIFF. In fact, this pundit can’t remember when a worthy acquisition title was handled so poorly by its public relations team. There was very little out reach to either the critics or media members who could draw attention to it. And in a twenty minute interview with Cameron Bailey for this outlet it was never even mentioned. Moreover, the fact the film had its public premiere the last Thursday of the festival was a red flag that it likely wasn’t good and while the P&I was scheduled earlier in the week it was up against more hyped films. That being said Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described Close as “brilliant” and Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter noted she was “absolutely extraordinary.” Of course, I know the publicists were begging the trades to run their reviews which had been pushed to the back burner for other high profile pictures (both THR and Variety ran four days after the P&I after pleas from the PR team which is what happens when you don’t hype your film enough).
Still, the early reactions caused a flurry of late buzz at the festival from press trying to see it last minute (there were no P&I’s added before a majority of press left on Wednesday and Thursday’s public premiere) and whether this could be another “Still Alice.” That drama was one of TIFF’s true surprises over the past decade and set Julianne Moore on a course to win Best Actress the second the credits rolled (I remember, I was there). Would Annapurna or Roadside, which have windows open in their December release schedules, give it a last minute Oscar push? Would Sony Classics swoop in even though they already have Annette Bening, another long-time deserving Oscar winner, in the wings with “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool”? Well, it turns out it’s the later, but that won’t help Close this eyar.
The Playlist confirmed that SPC will release “The Wife” in 2018, effectively holding it for the 2019 award season. Considering how packed the current Best Actress field is that probably seems like a safe bet, but with no clear winner among the contenders it’s assuming things will be much easier a year from now which seems slightly riskier.
Or maybe we were just hoping for a Meryl vs. Glenn showdown for old time’s sake.
“The Wife” will be released sometime in 2018.