The Good Wife (1987)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Please don't spend money on this.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

****SPOILERS*****At one point the wife very emphatically states that she wants a baby. The couple must have been married for quite a while at that point and that he had been unable to impregnate her. I think that the husband agreeing to let his backward brother to have sex with the wife was perhaps a desperate hope of giving her a baby. But the brother is a premature ejaculator. Disappointment is written in the expression on the wife's face as she urges "Wait! Wait!" Maybe with the near rape by the barman, she saw a vital man who could possibly provide her with a baby. Women who want babies have been known to do some pretty crazy things. There are many psychological disparities about the movie, but if you consider the urge to reproduce as the primary motivation of the wife, it may answer a lot of questions. Very good performances by all. I love being dropped into a time and place totally unlike anything I've ever known and being asked to believe it. All the costuming, environment, and supporting cast helped me to do just that.

What a heart-rendering plot! Throughout the movie, I kept wondering if there was the faintest chance that any close-knit community under the stars harbored secrets similar to the plot...Both brothers scruples, Marge's sexual appetite and the manner in which the town takes everything in step...It is sickeningly-refreshing to see this small town's women enjoy their sexuality as much as they do...To think all it takes is one male catalyst (Sam Neill's character, Neville) to turn women loose! Every guy's fantasy role...How am I to imagine the emotional toll this movie shoot took both on Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown (married to each other)?...Wow!

After seeing this movie, I was prompted to write and comment, once again, about the roles that husbands are afforded in almost every movie w/ a love triangle. This film offers a stark illustration of this fact. For the sake of the story, we are asked to suspend disbelief and watch as every husband portrayed in the film, is cuckolded- & offers no instance of protest, or resistance. So let me get this straight- the " GOOD WIFE" in the film, is a lustful, amoral character- who presumably destroys her marriage to pursue a worthless cad. By itself, this isn't an unbelievable tale. My pet peeve however, is how the women's spouses are portrayed, in movies of this sort. The B. Brown character not only doesn't get angry, he offers his wife to his brother, excuses her behavior w/ the barman, and willingly, immediately, and w/out reservation, offers "instant forgiveness" to his cheating wife- another predictable staple for this character. The other husband in the movie who catches his wife w/ another man, reacts the same way. In other words, every husband is weak, ineffectual & too inadequate, to show anger, towards their straying wives! No, the women are all capable of destructive actions, but the husbands?- their reaction to these actions, is reserved, measured, & minimal at best. This character is essential to filmmakers, but is so prevalent, that it's becoming a cliché' within itself! The first film that actually offers a sympathetic, strong portrayal of a betrayed man, which by the way is the usual portrayal given to betrayed wives, will be a revelation. An actual male character who doesn't whine & weakly accepts his wife's cheating. One who decides that SHE is not worthy of him- would be a first! Instead we are faced w/ the same character- gutless, weak, no balls, and willing to accept any & all humiliations, for the sake of fantasy. By no means am I one of these right-wing, "defenders of families" freaks- but it's not hard to see that the portrayal of husbands in these movies, would give one pause. What reality are these filmmakers living in- & maybe, just once, they'll join ours!

I saw the second half of this movie on cable starting from the point where Sam Neil came into town. Then the next day i caught the second half again. The story and the truth it brought to me was captivating. It brought many things to my mind. besides that it reminded me of many things it was all very atractivly shot with beutifull powerfull actors/actresses.i noticed there is only one comment in 3 years about this film and feeling so strongly about it i worte this. I have noticed many have though nothing of this film. though it fake or a physcolical atempt at "showing us something" "being something" but i belive these peoples life expereance has not agreed with the content and for that reason they do not like it. It has seemed very real to me. Although the style of acting in many ways is more like stage acting and carried more by the writers ideas then by the "relisim" of the actors themselvs. But what true ideas the writer has shown us!