While it’s not as strong as The Father, The Artist’s Wife tells a similar story dealing with someone affected by Alzheimer’s disease and the effect it has on those around you. This film resonated with me and hit close to home as my grandfather suffered from it.
The film follows Claire Smythson, wife of the renowned abstract artist Richard Smythson. She is plunged into a late-life crisis when her husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and is in danger of not completing the paintings for his final show.
The film is written and directed by Tom Dolby, and I love the approach he takes with the story. He handles it with great delicacy and shows how hard it is to live and deal with somebody who is dying of this sickness. It’s not easy work. His use of music is done well here, especially with the way he utilizes the piano score fitting the film perfectly.
That is where Lena Olin comes in to give a tour de force performance and show the hardship of caring for somebody with this heartbreaking disease. She is a screen legend that has been delivering masterful performances since the early ’80s, and you feel for her character. Her arc is heartbreaking because you see she loves her husband and is constantly trying to help him in many different ways, only to face the expected setbacks due to his condition. I appreciated that the film is told more from her perspective, which does a great job making it feel slightly different from The Father. She bounces off Bruce Dern so well, and they elevate each other’s acting artistry.
Dern equals her brilliance delivering another fantastic late-career performance that is just as good as his Oscar-nominated turn in Nebraska. He has many moments of range and brings furious anger to those scenes. But as powerful as those scenes were, he has some subtle ones that give you lots of feels because you know he can’t control it.
Juliet Rylance, who I enjoy a lot in The Knick and Perry Mason, appears in the film in a small but essential role as Dern’s estranged daughter, and she does a good job. Many of the film’s conflict comes from their relationship as it’s made crystal clear that Dern’s Richard wasn’t exactly an ideal father figure. I loved their scenes together because they add a different dynamic to the film from Dern’s relationship with his wife.
The one minor issue I have with the film would be that it gets a bit melodramatic at times, and something happens in the third act that I didn’t like too much. It felt very out of place and like it came out of nowhere.
In the end, The Artist’s Wife is a film about love, the sacrifices we make for the ones we love, and family. The film runs a smooth 90 minutes. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, thanks to some great editing. It manages to deliver so much in such a short run time, and I highly recommend it.
Watch it when it drops on VOD in the UK and Irish Platforms on April 30th.
