FIRST WIVES CLUB
US, 1996, 105 minutes, Colour.
Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Stephen Collins, Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, Maggie Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, Marcia Gay Hardin, Bronson Pinchot, Stockard Channing.
Directed by Hugh Wilson.
In 1969, four college roommates, Annie, Brenda, Elise, and Cynthia, prepare for graduation. Cynthia gives each girl a pearl necklace, and they promise eternal friendship. About twenty-five years later, Cynthia (Stockard Channing), lonely and depressed, writes notes to each of her friends who have not kept in touch. She then commits suicide because her husband has left her for a younger woman. The other three meet again at the funeral and resolve to stick together.
Elise (Goldie Hawn) is an actress whose husband, Bill (Victor Garber), is suing her for divorce, half their assets, and alimony while he dallies with a younger actress. Annie (Diane Keaton) and her husband, Aaron (Stephen Collins), an advertising executive, live separately but go to couples therapy. When he asks for a divorce, Annie discovers that he and the therapist are together. Brenda’s (Bette Midler) husband, Mortie (Dan Hedaya), has left her for a younger woman (Sarah Jessica Parker) as well. After this introduction to the lives of the characters, the women receive the letters Cynthia sent them and form The First Wives’ Club.
The women start to renovate a building Elise owns as a base of operations from which to carry out vengeance on their cheating husbands. Elise finds a way to sell everything out from under Bill, leaving him with a dollar; Annie has her lesbian daughter infiltrate the advertising company so Annie can buy out the partners secretly and become Aaron’s boss; Brenda obtains Mortie’s old business records that show he started his company with stolen property and help from the mob. Soon, however, Annie, Elise, and Brenda realize that revenge is empty, so their motivation changes to justice. They even turn on each other before they come to understand that they can transform their situation into something good in memory of Cynthia. They then decide to use their building as a crisis center for women in her memory, using funds extricated from their mostly unwilling husbands. At the grand opening of the center, Brenda and Mortie reconcile. Annie becomes a businesswoman, and Elise continues her career as an actress.
The First Wives Club is based on a first novel written by Olivia Goldsmith and published in 1992. The book sold more than one million copies, and the film grossed more than $150 million at the box office and made the cover of Time magazine (October 1996). As one critic wrote, the book touched the soul of women’s issues because it dealt with the superficiality of the contemporary lives of men. Ironically, Goldsmith died in February 2004 from complications from a facelift. The reason the film works so well is that it is cleverly written and combines funny comedy with a strong message. This light touch means that those who say they go to the movies to relax can enjoy it while getting involved with the serious issues of marriage breakdown and wives coping and asserting themselves.
The screenplay is by Robert Harling, who also wrote the play and script for Steel Magnolias, Soap Dish, and, more recently, the well-intentioned though somewhat disappointing romantic comedy about marriage, Laws of Attraction. Direction is by Emmy and Humanitas award winning Hugh Wilson (Dudley- Do Right, Guarding Tess).
Entertaining and thoughtful.
1. A successful and entertaining comedy? A 90s perspective on women and their place in society?
2. The glossy style, the affluent settings, the stars, their styles? The blend of the spoof and the serious?
3. The opening credits, the sketches and the humorous tone, the song? The ending and the three actresses singing?
4. The title, its point? Cynthia and the opening, the disappointment in marriage, her suicide? The three women setting up the centre for women?
5. The introduction, the four young women, graduation, their achievement, the 70s? The bonds between them, their not seeing each other for years? Cynthia sending the letters before she killed herself? The women coming to the funeral, the sadness, the husbands? Their having a meal, reminiscing, drinking, discovery of what had happened to them?
6. Diane Keaton as Annie, her appearance, age? Separated from her husband? Her love for her daughter? Her husband and his separation, his relationship with the younger woman? Her mother and her attitudes and the criticisms? The therapist, her husband going to the therapist, her discovery of the truth, her anger at his behaviour? Wanting a divorce?
7. Goldie Hawn as Elise, the glamorous actress, her facelifts, the collagen in the lips? Her attitude at the funeral, the touch of the snob? Her awards? Vanity? The drinks, smoking? Her husband, the separation, her wanting roles in films - but there being nothing available for women her age? Her going to the discussion, the audition - thinking she had the central role but was to play the mother?
8. Bette Midler as Brenda, down-to-earth, vigorous, her love for her son? Her relationship with Mort, his story, seeing the younger woman, spending money on her? The dress shop? The bar mitzvah for her son? Challenging Mort?
9. Aaron, his relationship with Annie, smooth manner, business, his lies, his losing his agency and his disbelief?
10. Victor Garber as Bill, car, the benefit, his relationship with Phoebe? Elise taking his furniture, the car? His anger?
11. Mort, his abilities in business, the twenty years, his taking up with Shelley, setting her up, her going to the shop, the redecoration? His uncle the criminal?
12. Maggie Smith as Gunilla, her role as a kind of chaperone, her style, the meal with Shelley, leading her on, the auction?
13. Gordon, the decorator, his being taken on by the women to do his work, his eccentric manner?
14. Shelley, her age, taking up with Mort, her buying things, her being led on, the auction, the end and her realisation of what had happened?
15. Amy, her lesbianism, the women going to see her at the club, her collaborating with them in the revenge on their husbands?
16. Annie's mother, control, the finale and her having to let go?
17. The bonds between the three women, their plan for revenge, getting the groups at the auction, Elise getting all the luxury goods from her husband, Annie paying only a dollar? Annie auctioning them, Shelley and her payments? Annie and her shrewdness, using the money to buy the controlling share in the advertising agency, Brenda and the discussions with Cousin Carmine? The evidence that Morty was using crooked money? Elise and her comment to Bill about the age of his girlfriend? The three husbands, their reaction, exasperation, agreeing to their wives' demands?
18. The success of their plan, the opening of the women's crisis centre? Morty and his repentance, reconciling with Brenda? The changes in Annie, alone, self-reliance? Elise, her new play, boyfriend? The final song and their walking down the street? What had they achieved?
19. Women's issues, first wives and their being abandoned by their husbands for younger women, the experience of separation and divorce, the middle-aged women and their having to cope - and a comedy of revenge?
