Search - The Politician's Wife on DVD

We watched the entire three part (though only 187 minutes, I think) movie last night and woke up to the newest political scandal with Eliot Spitzer. How timely!

This is a very good film about Flora, married to the Minister of Family whom espouses family values. Sure enough, the movie starts with Duncan, her husband, coming home with his entourage and having to let his wife know about his one-night stand with another woman, since the press has found out and they are about to be hounded.

Flora is absolutely broken-hearted. And, to make matters worse, nobody seems to show true sympathy to her for her heartbreak-- instead, everybody is concerned about Duncan keeping his position and about the "Party" (suffice it to say this has a definite liberal bias, but it's really not too bad).

Her father is even a creep. Flora comes down in the middle of the night and sees her father (one of the "party's" cronies) and when he begins to let her know how upset he is about Duncan's infidelity, Flora assumes she will be shown some concern. However, the dad is only concerned about himself and his upset is due to his fear that Duncan will go down and that his own future will be ruined. Despicable characters-- all of them!

Anyways, soon Flora receives an anonymous tape with very explicit recordings of some phone sex her husband took part in with the woman he was having an affair with. She soon recognizes that this was no "one-time" fling, but a serious affair that took place over the better part of a year and was very very serious. She begins to really despise her husband, while at the same time hanging on to the bit of love she once had for him. This part of the movie is interesting. It's obvious (to us) that she begins to really hate him-- hate his character and lack thereof. His flaws are completely noticeable-- maybe for the first time to Flora. He lies. He hates gays. He hates the needy. He says what he needs to say for political expediency, and then whispers to Flora how he will get away with breaking the promises he just made a moment before. He's definitely unlikeable.

However, rather than this being a "Let's bash the Conservatives" movie, one of Duncan's staff begins to help Flora plan Duncan's revenge. And, it soon turns out that more of the "Party" start to see the error of Duncan's ways, as well. So, there are definitely a few "honorable" people here, except, really, who is really honorable when the methods are so despicable, even if those methods are the absolute only way to achieve the necessary goals?

So, this becomes a film about morality, too. And, it is confusing, because we've grown to empathize with Flora but even she is capable of deceit. But, her methods are definitely underhanded even though her heart (for everyone but Duncan) is in the right place.

The acting is absolutely superb. Juliet Stevenson is extremely talented and I'm glad to see her in a lead role. Minnie Driver plays the mistress with a perfect British accent. Everyone else was good and the story moved along well, although had it gone a bit faster, I wouldn't have been disappointed.

Part of what is interesting here is the perceived necessity for the politicians' wives to stand by their men after their husbands' infidelities are exposed. We saw it with Hillary Clinton, we've seen it with Jim McGreevey and his wife, we've seen it with Larry Craig and his wife, and now we're seeing it with Elliot Spitzer and his sad-looking wife. These poor women (except for Hillary, I guess, who has her own reasons I suppose for staying)! They are paraded out in public to stand by their men and show support and smile and hold hands, etc., even while the pain is probably still profuse. Personally, I think the women would gain so much more respect by leaving. And, with Hillary, specifically (since she herself is in the public eye), I think her likeability would have gone way up had she left her chronically unfaithful husband behind.