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By
FRANK BEHRENS
This is one of the great
revenge stories of all times. Paula Milne has
written the script to a three-part miniseries seen
not too long ago on Masterpiece Theatre called
"The Politician's Wife." The Minister for Family
(of all people) is caught in a love nest scandal.
And like a certain President's wife of recent
memory, his spouse is expected by The Party to
stand behind him. Well, she does -- and in the
most original way possible. As all the Old Boys
rally behind this despicable lowlife, the wife
uses that very system of disinformation to get
back a bit of her own. Just how she does it and
with what results I refuse to say, because I want
you to savor this jaundiced view of inner-party
workings and how they destroy whatever traces of
humanity those concerned might have had once.
Well, this show is now yours for the viewing on an
Acorn Media DVD (AMP 7117), and I suggest you grab
it. It is due to appear on July 6, 2004; but I
wanted to give you lots of warning.
The disgusting conservative minister is played to
perfection by Trevor Eve, while the equally evil
(but just possibly unwitting bait in the trap)
femme fatale is made very believable by Minnie
Driver. But the show belongs to Juliet Stevenson
as the wife who does what is considered (by men,
of course) to be her duty in the most beautiful
Iago-like way. My favorite part is the speech she
gives to the wives of other conservative
politicians, in which she thanks them sincerely
for showing her that personal morality and
feelings and family and true devotion must all be
put aside for the sake of The Party. This Swiftian
moment is nearly matched later when she tells
someone about how her husband is such an
accomplished liar that he has started to believe
his own lies -- as long as he is still speaking
them. Do governments ever really change?
In fact, the only sympathetic characters other
than the wife (and that is a matter of opinion)
are the two children. All the other male
characters are smiling, foul Party-beings to whom
"conservative" means nothing more than conserving
their power and "truth" means nothing more than
the most effective lie that will serve their turn.
The three episodes have a total running time of
187 minutes and every minute is riveting. True to
what television executives think the public wants,
we get our usual quota of nipple shots (why do
these actresses put up with this?) and the F-count
is under 10. (Remember when they had to get
special permission to say Damn at the end of "Gone
With the Wind"?)
There are some film-biogs at the end and an
interesting essay by the author that you will have
to read off the screen. But the play itself is
top-notch. Again, grab this one. |
