The Politician's Husband (2013)

Great Film overall

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The Politician's Husband featured a fantastic performance by David Tennant as the manipulative politician and husband. I thought Emily Watson's performance was decent, but her character seemed a bit one-dimensional. This could have been due to how the character was written. Either way, the story was engaging from start to finish. The side plot involving their home life and special needs child was engaging, and I believe would have been the perfect instrument to properly end the mini series.*Spoilers Below This Line* After the death of Aiden's father, Freya makes plans to take the kids away so that her husband can collect his things and move out of the house. As he sits at the kitchen table, distraught from all of his recent losses, his son (diagnosed with Aspergers) slowly approaches and hands him a toy, before leaving the room. I think this would have been the best way to end the series, as it finished the parallel between Aiden and his son Noah. Earlier in the episode, Aiden's father had remarked how Aiden was given a son who was incapable of deception, and that he (Aiden's father) was given one to whom it was second nature.To have the series end with Noah trying to show compassion or empathy for his father (which is exceedingly difficult for a child with Aspergers), it would have highlighted Aiden's own selfishness and tied a neat little bow around this drama.Instead, the next few minutes revealed a startling "twist", where Aiden and Freya have been named Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister - the final reveal being that Freya is actually the one elected as PM. While it's a fun thought, it was a little too unrealistic for me. It didn't seem to match the rest of the story.Regardless, this is still one of my favorite political dramas so far.

Emily Watson is fantastic in this tremendous British political drama. As the wife of an ambitious politician played by David Tennant, she gives what is nothing less than the performance of a lifetime. Ms. Watson exudes sexuality and her quiet beauty and stunning eyes are completely mesmerizing. In several sequences she virtually sets the screen afire with her volcanic but subdued passion. It is amazing to watch her create a character that is incredibly desirable and stunningly sensual while at the same time being strong willed and seemingly made of steel. Speaking volumes with just those magnificent eyes, she conveys more emotion in a glance than 50 pages of exposition. This is a character who is all woman and then some and there is no doubt regarding her prowess in the bedroom. However, she is equally adept in the cabinet room and her strength as a leader even surpasses her carnal appetites. Watson is the only actress who could manage this and it's wondrous to see. It is no wonder she is so acclaimed as an actor and after so many superb performances that she remains the most respected actress of our time. It doesn't seem possible that she could exceed herself with every role but she does so in film after film as her career continues to astound.

I love political drama. The West Wing was absorbing, and Borgen, the brutally realistic depiction of the first woman P.M of Denmark, including the breakup of their marriage and rather genuine depiction of lust was brilliant.This series that we watched in one sitting on Netflix, did have some structure of political reality, yet there was a single scene, one of sexuality as assaultive hatred, of the husband brutalizing his wife, that certainly was "realistic." Yet, there was no warning, nor was there any realism that was consistent with their status and relationship.It was just thrown in to attract a certain audience who considers this as being edgy I write this review to warn others that this is not an "adult" themed film, but excess in the form of realism. I'm no prude, but this scene was sickening and destroyed the film for myself and my wife.

In a performance that sets the small screen blindingly ablaze, so powerful that she turns our screens into pulsating, living organisms, Emily Watson proves that she has now, along with the award winning master work Appropriate Adult, conquered television and made the medium her own, as she has with motion picture greatness. From the moment the camera focuses on her, this film comes alive and her presence stuns the audience with the superb work she does as the wife of a British politician with her own ambitions. She is nothing short of brilliant in the role and it is unfortunate that her magnificence as an actor tends to highlight David Tenant's inadequacies. He definitely puts in a tremendous effort to equal Watson and his hard work reveals too much of how difficult it is for him and how futile it is. Watson is a national treasure and a gift to stage, screen, and now television audiences worldwide. There is no one who can deny that and Tenant must realize he is in way over his head and his reach is beyond his grasp. Watson attempts to lift him up to her own level and she is most gracious in trying desperately not to overshadow him. She is a generous actor and she has succeeded in bringing out the best in others, as in the case of even Adam Sandler. However, here it simply doesn't work and what she faces is even beyond her genius. The weakness in this piece is not only on the shoulders of a weak co-star, but a less than stellar director, and an obvious script. However, what Ms. Watson does in her portrayal of a lovely woman coming into her own and letting her talent lead her to the top of a male dominated environment is tremendous and borders on the purely astonishing. Emily Watson demonstrates again that she is the greatest actor working in any medium and that has been the case since her stunning debut in 1997's Oscar nominated Breaking the Waves. Anyone who walked away from that searing performance without having their soul touched to the very core is absent a soul altogether. As the years pass, her career spotlights her growing excellence, her maturing beauty, and utter command of every role she takes on. Anyone who appreciates greatness and recognizes superb talent must see this film if only for Emily Watson's exemplary performance, another triumph of the finest actor ever to step before a camera.8/12/2014 One can not help but be stunned by the uninformed voting of 28 people and the artistic appreciation of only two! Breathtaking!