The Stepford Wives film review

certificate_12A

THE STEPFORD WIVES

Few would claim the 1974 version of The Stepford Wives was a masterpiece. The legendary reviewer Pauline Kael dubbed it "The first women's lib gothic." She also wrote it was, "Hardly the landmark the world had been waiting for." It's unlikely she would have been quite so charitable with this disappointing remake. Thirty years on Ira Levin's novel has been reinterpreted as a camp comedy. The sinister element that ran through William Goldman's original script has been all but abandoned. Instead writer Paul Rudnick has gone for laughs and changed the ending.

Rumours circulated during production on the disputes between the cast and director Frank Oz, whose resume includes Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and providing the voice of the Muppets. Most centred on the tone of the film. While Levin's book was not devoid of humour, it was not of the broad and crass variety that peppers Rudnick's script. Oz has played up the film's kitsch factor at every opportunity, but in so doing he has stripped the story of its underlying menace.

The choice of Nicole Kidman in the central role of Joanna Eberhard was on first impression an ideal one. In the past many have commented on Kidman's cold, detached presence. Who better then to play the part of a robotocised housewife? The truth is that Kidman is a powerful actress who radiates a keen intelligence. Unlike Katherine Ross who first played Eberhard, it's harder to imagine Kidman being so readily manipulated. It's an issue the script also fails to address satisfactorily.

We first encounter Eberhard as the president of a television network, one that specializes in reality programming. Following an incident involving a disgruntled contestant, she is dismissed, a decision that prompts a nervous breakdown. To help her recovery, her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) arranges for the family to move to the idyllic Connecticut community of Stepford where, according to the eternally ebullient estate agent Claire (Glenn Close), there is "no crime, no poverty and no pushing." What there is though is toilets that test urine for blood, sugar and body fat and a population of smiling, anatomically perfect housewives in floral print dresses.