53
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDolby provides Dern with a chance to be cranky and vicious, but what else is new? The revelation here is Lena Olin, who gets her best role in years as the artist’s second wife, Claire, an artist in her own right who gave it all up to make a home with and for a demanding husband.
- 70VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonIt’s entirely possible that The Artist’s Wife would have hit the same pitch-perfect notes had it been set during a long hot summer. But the wintery ambiance enhanced by Ryan Earl Parker’s evocative cinematography feels altogether appropriate for a story about one life winding down, and another on the verge of a restorative spring.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThis is more worth seeing for Olin and Dern’s tetchy and touching interactions, portraying a marriage of devotion and decay. Every filmmaker who preaches that “Casting is everything,” or 90 percent of everything, isn’t exaggerating. The Artist’s Wife proves it.
- 60Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinA sensitive turn by Olin combined with the script’s nicely delineated take on her long-suffering, creatively thwarted lead character, makes the film, set mainly in Long Island’s tony East Hampton, an absorbing, at times moving look at a woman caught between her own artistic and emotional desires and her devotion to a man who doesn’t seem to deserve her.
- 50The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneIf only the style of The Artist’s Wife could scald with equal intent. Alas, it opts for plangency, with a musical score applied like a gentle balm, and a plot that hungers for healing—absurdly so, given the incurable nature of Richard’s plight.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzLike an exhausted artist facing a blank canvas, or an underwhelmed film critic staring at a blank screen, The Artist’s Wife doesn’t have much to say but tosses something on the screen regardless, hoping it will stick.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckDespite its value in providing superb starring turns by Lena Olin and Bruce Dern, the film never manages to overcome its air of familiarity.
- 50New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNew York PostJohnny OleksinskiThe Artist’s Wife can, at times, come off as a collage of other, better movies.
- 50The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe best, perhaps the only reason to see The Artist’s Wife is Lena Olin, an actor incapable of giving a so-so performance.
- 50RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyRogerEbert.comGlenn KennyThe dénouement of The Artist’s Wife, wasting compassion on a character who has earned only the minimum, winds up fully validating an ideology and morality that is complicit in women’s oppression.