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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The politican's wife is a force to be reckoned with., August 31, 2004
This review is from: The Politician's Wife (DVD)
The Politician's Wife plays out in three installments, each lasting a little over an hour. This playing time is needed to allow for the intricate plotting of this complex drama. In the first part Flora Matlock, wife of Tory minister and rising star Duncan Matlock, learns that her husband has been unfaithful to her. This infidelity is ironic given that Duncan represents the family in the conservative English government. At first Flora is surprised and angry. We watch as she packs her bags to leave her husband. Before she finishes her packing she gets pressure from all sides to support her husband. She gives in to the manipulations of the men who want to keep Duncan in power. A little later on Flora learns from Duncan's assistant that the affair with an escort girl, Jennifer Cairn, lasted for a year or so. She is given pictures and an audio tape documenting Duncan's infidelity. In part two Flora, an exceptionally bright and capable woman, plots Duncan's downfall. Whenever she begins to question her motives, she listens to the audio tape to steel her in her resolve. Flora is as clever as Iago in Othello. We marvel at her political astuteness as she makes her plans and lays her traps for her husband, who deserves everything she does to him. In part three we hold our breath as she springs the trap and sets in motion a string of events that should keep all viewers watching closely to see what will happen next. The Politican's Wife represents the best of television drama. The acting is first-rate by all participants, particularly Juliet Stepenson as Flora, Trevor Eve as Duncan, Ian Bannen, unfortunately now dead, as Sir Donald Frazier, confidant to Flora, and Minnie Driver as the escort girl. A large cast supports these principals superbly. The story moves quickly and inexorably to the finale. The only mild violence in the plot happens in the bedroom as we watch Flora begin to take control over her wayward husband by playing to his many sexual weaknesses. Duncan is a manipulative villain and Flora is every bit his equal when it comes to scheming. Flora can lie and cheat with the best of the men who surround her. Is lying ahd cheating what it takes to succeed in government? The Politician's Wife suggests that honesty is for losers and those on the fast track to political power need to learn to manipulate the system to their advantage if they are going to have any chance at success. The Politician's Wife demontrates dramatically that women are not the weaker sex -- quite the contrary. Highly recommended.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Strong, Satisfying and Amusing Story of Political Revenge, January 14, 2005
This review is from: The Politician's Wife (DVD)
This is an enormously satisying British television program involving political hypocrisy, personal corruption and revenge. It's a mixture of cynical humor and serious political observations. And it features great acting all around. Duncan Matlock (Trevor Eve) is an up-and-coming Tory politician who's specialities are family values and ambition. He's married to Flora Matlock (Juliet Stevenson), who loves him and who has supported his climb up the Tory ranks for years. She's the epitome of the perfect political wife...smart, wealthy, loyal, socially adept but with a human touch, great at looking entranced at her husband on stage while he gives his speeches about values and family. When it's discovered he's had an affair with a former prostitute (Minnie Driver), she is devestated, but he pleads for forgiveness saying it was only a passing weakness. The Tory damage-control team, headed by Sir Donald Frazier (Ian Bannen), after weighing things for a bit, decides to swing behind Duncan and convices Flora that her husband is a changed man. She agrees to stay with him. Then she learns Duncan's affairs go way back, that they are continuing, that he has a habit of using people, which includes her and the people who lead organizations trying to help battered women and familes, for his own ends. Flora sets out to seek her revenge...and does so with great subtlety. Duncan doesn't know what hit him until it's too late, and she gently forces Sir Donald and his inner-party big wigs to make some cynical choices. I'm not sure there's a male politician in the bunch who comes off very well -- they all seem to be self-satisfied, self-serving members of the same club. Flora beats them at their own game. Juliet Stevenson is a first-rate acrtess, and she does a superb job. She moves from devotion to hurt to forgiveness to a strong, smart woman setting up hidden revenge with immense believeabilty. Her short speech before a group of Tory wives who call themselves The Conservative Christian Wives Club (this is after she has discovered the truth about her husband but is playing the loyal wife) is a funny, ironic piece of subversion. Trevor Eve is just about as good as the charming, believable, ambitious, hypocritical politician on the make. "The Politican's Wife" was shown in three installments and runs just over three hours. There's not a dull moment. The DVD transfer, on one disc, is very good. This is the unedited UK version. The program was trimmed a bit when shown in the US to eliminate a flash or two of breast.
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27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Political Morality Tale for All Times, June 1, 2004
This review is from: The Politician's Wife (DVD)
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.
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