Trophy Wife

Trophy Wife is the new high concept thriller from writer-director Eric Garson. Throwing in a sprinkle of sci-fi elements, this feature film follows the character of Ava - a woman suffering with amnesia whose scientist husband may be hiding a deep, dark secret. We follow Ava as she's confined to her home - recovering from her 'accident' - but things go from bad to worse when her husband's aggression provokes our protagonist to pursue the truth. The movie is a strong effort, and certainly nails Hollywood formula; however, clunky dialogue and inconsistent pacing means that the story and characterisation feels underdeveloped - particularly in the case of the husband whose motivations remain surface-level. It simply means that the third act payoff fails to hit with full force. There are a few reasons why, and they mostly fall under script and performance. Yet, as a genre film, Trophy Wife really is fabulously entertaining even if it proves rough around the edges.

Allow me to highlight a few of the visual flourishes of the picture. The film has a tremendous opening sequence as Ava is seen running through the forest away from an unseen figure. The camerawork is wonderfully dynamic, the editing is riveting and the colour grade is incredibly inventive during this scene; its contrasty blues fully evoke the feeling of experiencing a dream or memory. During the more linear scenes of the piece, one of the more impressive attributes of the cinematography and camerawork is the use of dolly shots for the interiors. The smooth yet locked down feel as the shot tracks the characters' movements not only works psychologically and cinematically, but it also provides a sense of production value.

Problems arise, however, when it comes to the more specific characteristics of shot coverage. Occasionally, faces will be slightly out of focus, but more noticeable is the odd framing. Quite often, there will be empty space present to the left and right of frame, so one gets the feeling that our eye isn't being confidently drawn to whatever subject through the use of depth in composition. The use of a wide-screen aspect ratio also doesn't help with this since the format suggests that there should be visual details on the left and right of the image to be enjoyed. Despite this, it's a well-considered movie in visual terms - I love how the background and deep focus is implemented, for instance, when characters on the other side of the room can be seen positioned in between two subjects talking in the foreground; there's a tangible atmosphere of paranoia and threat.

Despite the fact that the plot is, unfortunately, slightly predictable, Trophy Wife manages to skilfully juggle multiple genre elements, which keeps the action interesting and fun. A terrific central performance also makes the movie very watchable. My main issue in terms of narrative is that you never for one moment trust the husband; he's cartoonishly mean and abusive from the outset, thus the tension becomes skewed. It attempts to juggle the high concept exercise of Before I Go to Sleep (a bad and less entertaining movie), with the manipulation and questioning of trust that comes with the Cassavetes character in Rosemary's Baby. But unfortunately, it doesn't quite hit the mystery beats, although it always feels like it's heading in the right direction. Audiences will certainly have a lot of fun with Trophy Wife because it's there to be had fun with - big, unpretentious and twisty.