Tom Dolby’s highly moving masterpiece, based on real-life events inspired by his parents, is both heartbreaking and tear-jerking. It's a moving survey of intergenerational and unconditional love. The Artist’s Wife confronts the gritty reality of dealing with eccentric, patronizing, and erratic conduct seemingly justified artistic exemption, which in this very context is only exacerbated by a tragic Alzheimer's diagnosis. The film is a poignant display of the struggles that Alzheimer's patients deal with on a regular basis: the misunderstandings, alienation, forgetting your loved ones, and the outstanding talent that made you special.
Lena Olin and Bruce Dern’s wonderful performances are the film's touchstone. As a younger partner, the artist's wife makes sacrifices, caring less about her own artistic pride to put her ill husband's reputation first and—despite struggling with ambiguous feelings about her loved one brought on by the degenerative disease. She chooses to gift him with creative immortality at the expense of her own merit.
Dolby’s narrative focuses on the raw trauma of the artist’s loved ones having to tread on eggshells while trying to nourish a healthy and heartfelt bond. The Artist’s Wife is a compelling look at the complexities of marriage and devotion elevated by Olin's astute characterization. Highly Recommended.
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Claire (Lena Olin) lives a quiet domestic life in the Hamptons as the wife of celebrated artist Richard Smythson (Bruce Dern). Once a promising painter herself, Claire now lives in the shadow of her husband’s illustrious career. While preparing work for his final show, Richard’s moods become increasingly erratic, and he is diagnosed with dementia. As his memory and behavior deteriorate, she shields his condition from the art community while trying to reconnect him with his estranged daughter and grandson from a previous marriage. Challenged by the loss of her world as she knew it, Claire must now decide whether to stand with Richard on the sidelines or step into the spotlight herself.
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