The Scoundrel's Wife

In "Home Front", as the DVD was entitled, WWII German U-boats are sinking American ships off the coast of Louisiana and the little Cajun backwater town Cut Off, LA is getting the backlash. The film focuses on a woman (O'Neal) with a big secret, a doctor (Sands) with a medium sized secret, a priest with a little secret, and a USCG Ensign who is the wartime town cop and wants to know everybody's secret. Trying too hard to be all things to all people while lacking in focus, purpose, center of gravity, and character depth this mediocre little indie manages nominal drama - with O'Neal looking in need of some serious direction - while missing much of the smell, sound, and scenic beauty of Cajun country. Recommended only for fans of the players or anyone interested in the location or period. The DVD I watched had no CC's and only Spanish subtitles. (C+)

Tatum O'Neal, attempting a movie-comeback, stars as a widowed mother of two in World War II Louisiana who's under a dark cloud after the locals suspect she may be a German sympathizer. Director Glen Pitre's sterling reputation with the critics precedes his work here; the filmmaker shows no distinguishing talent with story, narrative or actors. The men are mostly overwrought, young Lacey Chabert is totally out of the film's period, and O'Neal is kept too low-keyed and distant from us (and she looks wrung-out to boot). The movie's low-budget certainly doesn't help enrich the period flavor, and a good cast--including Julian Sands and an overacting Tim Curry as an alcoholic priest--is mostly forgettable (Curry does liven things up, though his comic mugging doesn't belong in a movie about U-boats and nefarious Louisiana fisherman). *1/2 from ****

This is one of my all-time favorite films. I don't understand the negative reviews. I think it is an underrated gem and have tried for years to find a way to stream it after seeing it broadcast on TV several years ago. The depth of the characters and the intrinsic interest of the subject matter have never faded from my mind. The characters are the most fascinating part. The Butcher's wife is a standout, called into action for some bizarre and gruesome, but very important work in her husband's absence. The two main characters are complex and I think will rendered the scoundrels's wife, so-called, played by Tatum. O'Neal is reserved and subtle, but given her circumstances and accusations of her, she can hardly be a Pollyanna, which seems to be what some critics were wanting O'Neill to portray. And the doctor well he's just overwhelming a character with one secret after another revealed.

This movie was filmed around the area where I live (I was almost in it but I was on vacation for callbacks). It is truly a great movie. The writing, cinematography, acting and directing were all superb. It is about a family who is the outsiders of the town of Cut Off in the 1940's because her husband threw barrels of illegal immigrants into the gulf that they were shipping to America for profit. Her husband has died and her family have to make lives for themselves but WWII hits hard on the community. The wife ends up housing a doctor who is really an illegal immigrant and they become close and a chain of events are sparked. I know a few people that were in the film. I know the girls (Britney Levron, Danielle Lagard) that are sitting at the table in the dance hall and one of the dancers (Natalie Duet). I also know the girl (Kayla Duet) that is in the crowd in the final scenes. She is the blonde that is shaking her head.All in all, A+ entertainment.

The Scoundrel's Wife did have potential to be much better than it was, the idea for the story was intriguing and there was some good talent(speaking as a fan of Tim Curry). It is certainly not a bad film, there are things to like and even the not-so-good things are not that disastrous, but at the end of the day it just felt lacking.

The scenery and locations are beautiful and there is a good amount of evocative period detail. The music is subtle and not intrusive and doesn't feel too sluggish or repetitive. There is evidence of some intelligent dialogue and scenes with heart, with a relatively sweet if brief moment between Tatum O'Neal and Julian Sands where she is amused by his dancing. And three performances are good, no bias is intended here but Tim Curry stood out here. He had the most interesting character, and he is amusing and charming but also appropriately subtle as Father Antoine without becoming eccentric or dull. Lacey Chabert brings much spirit and heart into her role and didn't seem too out of place too much, while Julian Sands is in refreshingly subdued mode and comes over as sympathetic and quietly dignified.

However, there are things that are less good. Most of the rest of the cast do come over as a little overwrought and Tatum O'Neal's performance felt too underplayed and lacking in emotion though with its moments. Glen Pitrie's direction is often so low-key that it felt like his heart wasn't properly in it, it's clear where the film is set and what the story is and effort is made in giving the film a nice bayou flavour(even if not always consistent) but there was overall a lack of intimacy and I never got really to know most of the characters. The Scoundrel's Wife is reasonably well shot and it's far from a bad-looking film, as seen in the previous paragraph, but there was at times too much of a TV film feel. The script and story have their moments, but the script does fall too often into melodramatic soap-opera that lacks flow and the story also has a good deal of melodramatic that is sometimes moving but too often ham-fisted, also feeling a little limp pace-wise. The ending to me seemed on the jumbled and far-fetched side.

In conclusion, not a bad film but a patchy one, partially recommended but not a must-see. 5/10 Bethany Cox