A Good Wife

Making the right decision, no matter how personal it is.

You might remember the film 'What Lies Beneath', but it is not anything like that. The common between these two are, the wives. This is a pure drama, about a wife who finds out her husband's wrongdoing that had been hidden from everyone for very long. She does not know how to deal it. So like the title hints out, the film is going to reveal where she stands on that which takes the entire narration.

It was the directional debut for an actress who also appeared in the lead role in the film. She seems very familiar, I might have seen her in some films, but can't recall it. Or maybe a very common face, particularly for her age. She was good though, the film was all about her character. Opened with the events surrounding her family, which is so normal in any family. Especially her married life which had been very successful so far.

Like a round of the seasons of the year, all her friends, family, including her daily life, how she spends were disclosed. Once that intro happened, now all the focus turns towards her discovery of an old videocassette. With that, she comes to know her husband's crime. Like any good wife, she had to choose him over that. But later when an unexpected event follows, now she has to rethink and act accordingly what's right before entering her critical stage of life from another angle.

Whatever she had seen in the tape, which is obviously shown to us as well, but the screenplay had kept the suspense till the final about how to respond in such situation. The film plot is easily available everywhere, which is not a spoiler. What matters in this film is, how the wife reacts. That's the drama developed with too much drag. Yep, the narration was slow. Not like moving forward was held back, but coming to the point was, like a person in confusion.

❝Life will be your true teacher. You go to school just to get a certificate and that's all.❞

In my life as well, something similar happened. I'm not taking about the wrongdoing, but when we come to know the person we respected a very much is not as what we think he's. So it will be a question of where to place them onwards in our life. The worst is if they're one of our family members. If it is between you and him, then it's your decision alone. But when it concerns the entire nation and that's what this film is about.

They did not press that topic harder. Like it was a regular drama film, they had given preferences to other stuffs too. Like I said, there's nothing much in the story, going deep on everything it focused. This is a 90 minute film, but feels like two hours long due to the lack of pace. They should have added more contents to spice it up. I felt it had potential to be a fine product if it was turned into a thriller, at least in the final stage, like a Hollywood film.

There are lots of clues, where the film indirectly bring to our attention. Because if you fail on that, you would fail to understand the film. The main reason to keep the screenplay in such style was political concern. It was slightly inspired from the reality of the Serbian war from the past. You have to be focused even what the news channels saying and all the background events. Especially you must able guess what the wife is thinking when every time she looks at someone intentionally. Because she was not certain, but that does stay like that forever. That's where the final stage of the film takes turns, but on what direction is the twist.

To me it is a mixed feeling, but overall I don't think it is that bad. Being it is her first directional film, I would say she managed everything so well. Definitely she can pull a big in her next, if she concentrates more on the writing parts. It might be an average film for ordinary people, but the film fanatics would like it better. My issues was, I had seen a few similar films which were much better than this. Other than that it does not need to be compared. I only counted its contents to rate and review it. So I'm not going to suggest it, but all I say is it is a decent film.

6/10