Review of The Astronaut's Wife (1999) by Graham P — 18 Sep 2008

I don't think this film needs to be lambasted quite as harshly as everyone seems thinks it should be. Sure the pacing dragged and the plot was predictable (a bad combination in any event) but the cinematography was good, the sound editing was top notch, and the cast certainly worthy (though I'm sure many would say, worthy of something better). However, I will admit that mechanics alone cannot hold a film aloft.

"The Astronaut's Wife" is not bad by any means; it just isn't particularly good. It's average, lackluster, run-of-the-mill. I think the main problem comes from the story itself in that it plays no psychological mind games with the audience. It would have been a very different (and better) film if there had been some kind of doubt about the wife's paranoia: An extra-terrestrial possessed your husband, and then he knocked you up with the interstellar alien spy-babies? Get real lady; you just have some real weird issues about being a first-time mother. A switching between believing and doubting the reliability of the main character could have really deepened the tension and effectiveness of the narrative. Instead, with hardly any doubt at all, we see the truth long before the main character and get horribly impatient waiting for them (her) to finally get on the right page.

Then there's the issue of the movie's failure on a metaphoric level. Now, I'm not one of those types who thinks every film needs to be "art" in some way shape or form and always be saying something "behind the scenes" (a.k.a. what the film is REALLY about as you'll hear film geeks sneer) but I do believe that what makes movies great is their ability to tap into the human heart, mind, and soul: great cinema addresses universally human issues. But as one might joke that "The Astronaut's Wife" is really just "Rosemary's Baby" meets "I Married a Monster from Outer Space," the comparison actually comes pretty close and illustrates the metaphoric problems: is it addressing feminine concerns about parental uncertainty or not knowing the real father of one's child (like the fairytale the wife brings up near the end)? Or is it touching a woman's fear of becoming a first time mother? Or is it about the sense of separation that partners feel due to different experiences during pregnancy? Is it about a father's connection to the wife through the pregnancy, like a warped and joyless extension of sex where a part of him says within her while no longer being "him?" Perhaps it addresses a disconnection felt between mother and developing baby?... None of these issues seem concrete enough and all of them together make for a poor script no matter what way you slice it.

Ah well. The Astronaut's Wife is generally a flatliner with the occasional jump scare, fine mechanics, and (I thought) really great audio work. It's not bad but it's not good and you're not missing much by missing it.