“The Artist’s Wife” will be released on digital platforms and in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 30th April 2021 by Vertigo Releasing.
The film stars Lena Olin and Bruce Dern, and is directed by Tom Dolby, who wrote the screenplay with Nicole Brending and Abdi Nazemian.
Claire (Lena Olin) lives a quiet domestic life in the Hamptons as the wife of celebrated artist Richard Smythson (Bruce Dern). Once a promising painter herself, Claire now lives in the shadow of her husband’s illustrious career. While preparing work for his final show, Richard’s moods become increasingly erratic, and he is diagnosed with dementia.
As his memory and behaviour deteriorate, she shields his condition from the art community while trying to reconnect him with his estranged daughter and grandson from a previous marriage. Challenged by the loss of her world as she knew it, Claire must now decide whether to stand with Richard on the sidelines or step into the spotlight herself.
History is filled with female artists who have supported their more famous husbands or partners. “The Artist’s Wife” is a tribute to these women, a contemporary imagining of the journey of the stronger woman behind the man – and what happens when the relationship begins to crumble due to circumstances beyond either person’s control.
