The Story of My Wife

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source: The Story of My Wife

Great story, great acting, amazing cinematography and production design, for a wonderful and unique script that pulls on the heartstrings of everyone who has known love, strife and loss, and who is able to notice a great piece of art when they see it. This is an amazing tale, one that might be criticised for being too far-fetched, but nevertheless is very close to the real lives of many people. Granted: this is not for everyone. Not everyone will appreciate the trials and tribulations of this captain, or the tribulations and restlessness of the young, wild, curious and intelligent wife... but I assure you all that this is what art is made of: past experience combined with grief and imagination, congealed in a (art) piece with the aid of top craftsmanship from all the participants in the production of this move. An amazing cast, delivering an amazing performance, enhanced by top-notch work from all other parties involved. This is now one of my favorite movies of all time. Special credit has to be handed to Lèa Seydoux, who is absolutely brilliant in her flawless performance. She is not only a ravishing beauty: she has always proved to be an amazing actress, even in the most barren roles in the most mind-numbing action movies (e.g., 007) and in this one she shows the ability to delivery a performance that is finely-grained with all the nuance of this very complex character.

This film was a pleasant surprise for me...I hadn't read the book (original source material is a book with the same title by Hungarian author Milan Fust) and I didn't know anything about the film when I watched it. Since, I have read numerous reviews and critiques of the book...and the film which was premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film festival. The general story is about a Dutch sea captain Jakob Stor in the 1920's/1930's who, encouraged by his on-board chef, marries a young bohemian woman who he doesn't really know. The two have an odd relationship filled with seeming contempt and indifference by Lizzy the wife and patience, curiosity, and eventual jealousy by Jakob. The film is predominantly in English with some Dutch in parts...like the beginning. I was very appreciative of the Dutch language being used and Jakob being played by the Dutch actor Gijs Naber. Gijs Naber was not just the anchor holding this film together...but the best part. He was phenomenal and did a wonderful job selling a tortured and sympathetic character. One of my favorite scenes is the build up to him throwing vases etc around their flat. (He lasted longer than I would have before he snapped.) I also particularly enjoyed the sultry Tango scene, but a large part of my enjoyment of this film was the cinematography. I love some of the still moments that were just a view out of a port window...or the view of the horizon. Sea life is definitely romanticized in the film...even the camaraderie of the young crew seems idolized along with the more revered but isolated life of the captain. I understand this was a joint effort between Hungary, Germany and France and I loved it. I hope we have more joint efforts bringing literature to life. The sets and costumes were wonderful and really showcased both the time period and the fictional characters. Not only did I love the film and highly recommend it, but I am eager to read the original book which I have had to order as my local bookstore did not have a copy. If the reviews are to be believed to book delves even more into philosophy than the film. To define this film in the simplest of terms this is about a toxic relationship or the breakdown of a marriage between a Dutch sea captain and a young free spirited girl.

Very fine actors we have here, to a story that you have to ... well get into. The premise is "easy" or at least seems that way. Especially considering how fast everything seems to move at first. But when you skip steps - well in the end the step you skipped may come back to haunt you. Or in this case the main characters. Love can not be conjured up - it can be built over years sometimes, And it may be something that is going to happen here too. But it wouldn't be a good movie, if everything went smoothly and without any obstacles ... still the movie is almost 3 hours long and the pace slows down quite significantly. So I do understand if some people have issues because of the length (no pun intended) ... yes (minute) size does matter. Keeping things fresh too - it does try that out and we have quite a few situations. Some that we may have to figure out ourselves. Can you dig it?

... would really have been interesting to watch this film as it should have been made in foreign language(s)... watching it now is like viewing a production having been perfectly dubbed, something is missing-lacking... actors making movies in second or third languages will do nothing but take away from a film's experience... sure there's a bit of adjustment having to read subtitles... yet the 'feel' of the movie makes it all-more-worthwhile ... interesting premise.. he's obliviously being unfaithful all the while upset, fully believing she's not being honest with him regarding her fidelity... any-all women of the day could never have close male friends, especially married-women... viewer ratings for this film would overall surely have gone up were it not for the fact of it being 169 minutes long.

This movie is not for everyone, but for those who can see poetry in images. Only Lea herself is already enough to see it, such a mysterious woman, on which most of people can't understand. The actor who plays the captain is good enough to lead the movie all by himself in 3 hours. The photography, cities and the period completes the perfect environment.