The Astronaut's Wife
USA 1999
Reviewed by Ken Hollings
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The US, the present. Having survived a two-minute blackout while repairing a satellite in orbit, space-shuttle pilot Spencer Armacost decides to retire from NASA. He moves with his wife Jillian to New York and becomes an executive in an aeronautics company. However, Armacost refuses to discuss what happened in space, even when his commanding officer Alex Streck dies and Streck's widow commits suicide at the funeral by electrocuting herself with the radio set Streck obsessively listened to after his return to Earth. Soon Armacost also is listening constantly to the radio.
Discovering she's pregnant with twins, Jillian encounters ex-NASA employee Sherman Reese, who reveals that Armacost and Streck were taken over by a mysterious entity in space and that Streck's wife was also carrying twins when she killed herself. Jillian begins to doubt whether Armacost or the unborn twins are human. Armacost prevents Jillian from inducing a miscarriage and has her hospitalised. Realising he's communicating with the foetuses inside her, Jillian lures Armacost to their apartment where she electrocutes him with the radio. A transluscent organism escapes from Armacost's dead body and enters Jillian. Later, Jillian is seen living next to an air base and married to a pilot, raising identical twin boys who obsessively listen to the radio.
Review
It doesn't take long to see why Charlize Theron has kept the close blond crop she sported in Mighty Joe Young: any similarity with Mia Farrow's hairstyle for Rosemary's Baby (1968) is not entirely coincidental. Substituting weird alien science for Satanism, Rand Ravich's ambitious directorial debut is an attempt to make a Polanski film in the US without Polanski. Fortunately, Ravich has just the right blend of objectivity, malice and cinematic smarts to pull it off.
More concerned with demonstrating the disorienting effect of the familiar on our expectations than with playing space invaders, The Astronaut's Wife scrambles established notions of human scale and perspective. Jillian and Spencer Armacost are constantly seen either in extreme close-up, their proximity to each other emphasised by the beating of her heart on the soundtrack, or as isolated figures set within vast spaces overlaid with a restraining lattice of vertical and horizontal bars. At a NASA press conference, Jillian and Armacost are dwarfed by gigantic US flags. Their New York City apartment block may not be as dark and brooding as the Dakota Building, made famous in Rosemary's Baby, but it contains a similar warren of corridors, passageways and doorways, which Spielberg alumni Allen Daviau's camerawork explores with restless invention. In fact, the whole of Manhattan becomes a gigantic extension of Jillian's mental space, right down to the chicken wire-covered windows at the special ante-natal classes she attends for women expecting twins.
Ravich's script keeps all alien elements to an elegant minimum: no reason is ever given for the mysterious entity's presence on Earth. There is little in Johnny Depp's brilliantly guarded portrayal of Armacost that hints at a game plan much beyond a very human biological need to reproduce. Building on his character's former attributes as an astronaut, Depp offers an acidic, unsettling study of the Right Stuff going horribly wrong. His sexual playfulness becomes brutally urgent; his bravado in the face of danger a dead-eyed indifference to the sufferings of others. The biggest irony of his performance is that Armacost retains his masculinity long after losing all trace of humanity. Accused by Jillian of having killed her husband, the creature callously retorts that it also "fucked his wife," as if it were settling some old score with the man whose identity it has usurped. It's a genuinely chilling moment, suggesting that little more than a change of perspective separated the NASA space hero from the marauding alien life-form. Polanski would undoubtedly approve.
Credits
- Producer
- Andrew Lazar
- Screenplay
- Rand Ravich
- Director of Photography
- Allen Daviau
- Editors
- Steve Mirkovich
- Tim Alverson
- Production Designer
- Jan Roelfs
- ©New Line Productions, Inc
- Production Companies
- New Line Cinema presents a Mad Chance production
- Executive Producers
- Mark Johnson
- Brian Whitten
- Donna Langley
- Co-producer
- Diana Pokorny
- Associate Producer
- Jody Hedien
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Carla Fry
- Production Executive
- Leon Dudevoir
- Production Controller
- Paul Prokop
- Production Co-ordinator
- Dina Brendlinger-Farnell
- Supervising Production Co-ordinator
- Emily Glatter
- Production Co-ordinator
- NY Unit:
- John De Simone
- Unit Production Manager
- Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda
- Location Managers
- Robert E. Craft
- NY Unit:
- Deb Parker
- Post-production
- Executive in Charge of:
- Jody Levin
- Supervisors:
- Jack Deutchman
- Rick Reynolds
- Assistant Directors
- K.C. Colwell
- Darin Rivetti
- Paula Harris
- NY Unit:
- Laura Cercone Fiorino
- Script Supervisor
- Marion Tumen
- Casting
- Rick Pagano
- Debi Manwiller
- Associate:
- Eyde Belasco
- ADR:
- Sondra James
- Camera Operators
- Paul C. Babin
- Tom Connole
- NY Unit:
- Chris Hayes
- Steadicam Operators
- Robert Ulland
- Mark O'Kane
- Andy Shuttleworth
- NY Unit:
- Larry McConkey
- Executive in Charge of Visual Effects
- Lauren Ritchie
- Visual Effects Consultants
- Ellen Somers
- Linda Drake
- Alien Effects
- Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- Sheena Duggal
- Visual Effects Producer:
- Julia Rivas
- Visual Effects Art Director:
- Michael Scheffe
- Computer Graphics Supervisor:
- Sam Richards
- Visual Effects Editor:
- Guy Wiedmann
- Senior Technical Designer:
- Thomas Hollier
- Technical Designers:
- Steve Lavietes
- Seth Lippman
- Allen Ruilova
- Rick Sander
- Theo Vandernoot
- Jeff Wolverton
- Additional Look Development:
- Mitch Deoudes for House of Pain
- Character Animators:
- John Clark Matthews
- David Schaub
- Compositing Artist:
- Carol Ashley
- Matte Painter:
- Robert Stromberg
- Lead Rotoscope Artist:
- Susan Kornfeld
- Digital Production Manager:
- Chris D. Juen
- Alien Effects
- Rhythm & Hues Studios
- Executive Producer:
- Lee Berger
- Digital Effects Supervisor:
- Derek Spears
- 2D Supervisor:
- Sean McPherson
- Compositors:
- Chris Bergman
- John Heller
- Jennifer Howard
- Marc Rubone
- Chris Seitz
- Serkan Zelzele
- Effects Artists:
- Anders Ericson
- Andy Gauvreau
- Douglas Harsch
- David Santiago
- Film Editor:
- Josh Margolies
- Digital Camera Supervisor:
- Megan Bryant
- Spaceman in Outer Space
- Blue Sky/VIFX
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- John 'DJ' DesJardin
- Visual Effects Producer:
- Josh R. Jaggars
- Digital Supervisor:
- Hoiyue 'Harry' Lam
- 3D Animation:
- Scott Giegler
- Bela Brozsek
- 3D Texture:
- Dortha Starling
- Lead Compositor:
- Randy Brown
- Roto/Paint Artist:
- Rimas Juchnevicius
- Spacecraft Shader:
- Ivan DeWolf
- Procedural Earth:
- Douglas Harsch
- 'Young Man' Chris Allen
- Bryan Hirota
- CG Modeller:
- Robert Rioux
- Digital Department Manager:
- Mark Brown
- Motion Control Operator:
- Les Bernstein
- Space Shuttle Suits
- Global Effects, Inc
- Satellite
- All Effects
- Eric Allard
- Satellite Crew:
- Andy Weder
- Tony Vandenecker
- Daryl Dodson
- Gene Barsamian
- Special Effects
- Supervisor:
- Michael Lantieri
- Co-ordinators:
- Gregory Tippie
- Thomas R. Homsher
- Foreman:
- Brian Tipton
- NY Unit Co-ordinator:
- Mark Bero
- Art Directors
- Sarah Knowles
- NY Unit:
- Peter Rogness
- Set Designer
- Randall Wilkins
- Set Decorators
- Leslie A. Pope
- Additional:
- Claudette Didul Mann
- NY Unit:
- Christine Mayer
- Storyboard Artists
- Matt Golden
- NY Unit:
- Brick Mason
- Costume Designer
- Isis Mussenden
- Costume Supervisors
- Alexandria Forster
- NY Unit:
- Denise Andres
- Roseann Milano
- Make-up Department Head
- Deborah K. Larsen
- Key Make-up Artist
- Christina Criswell
- Unborn Twins
- Kevin Yagher
- Special Effects Make-up Artists
- Studio Manager:
- Mark C. Yagher
- Project Supervisor:
- Mitch Coughlin
- Sculptor/Painter:
- Mario Torres
- Sculptor:
- Jeff Buccacio
- Mold/Silicone Technicians:
- Tony Acosta Jr
- David Selvadurai
- Frank Diettinger
- Womb Construction:
- Pamela Cveticanin
- Zachariah Cveticanin
- Jeff Himmel
- Animatronic Design:
- Johnnie Spence
- Mechanical Technicians:
- David Miner Jr
- Richard LaLonde
- Hair Department Head
- Candy Walken
- Hairstylists
- Key:
- Lana I. Heying
- NY Unit:
- John D. Quaglia
- Titles/Opticals
- Cineric, Inc
- János O. Pilenyi
- Ulrike Relchhold
- Music Executive/Supervisor
- Paul Broucek
- Music Co-ordinator
- Annie Searles
- Music Editor
- Mike Flicker
- Music Recorder/Mixer
- John Whynot
- Music Consultant
- Michael Boriskin
- Music Scoring Consultant
- Suzy Katayama
- Soundtrack
- "Poor Butterfly" by Raymond Hubbell, John Golden; "Our House in Tokyo" by W. Franke Harling; "Moonlight and Roses" by Ben Black, Edwin H. Lemare, Neil Moret, Charles N. Daniels; "My Way" by Paul Anka, Gilles Thibault, Jacques Revaux, Claude François, performed by Sex Pistols; "Four Beat Cha Cha Cha" by Tito Puente, performed by Tito Puente and His Orchestra
- Choreography
- JoAnne Fregalette Jansen
- Sound Mixers
- Paul Ledford
- NY Unit:
- Michael Barosky
- Re-recording Mixer
- Tom Fleishman
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Blake Leyh
- Dialogue Editors
- Fred Rosenberg
- Kimberly McCord
- Additional Transmission Effects
- Tom McGill
- Santorini Effects Operators
- Neil Fine
- Sharlene Breakey
- Sound Effects Editor
- Sean Garnhart
- ADR
- Editor:
- Hal Levinsohn
- Foley
- Supervisor:
- Frank Kern
- Artist:
- Marko Costanzo
- Mixer:
- Mathew Haasch
- Editor:
- Paul Urmson
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Tim Davison
- Film Extract
- Penny Serenade
(1941)- Cast
- Johnny Depp
- Spencer Armacost
- Charlize Theron
- Jillian Armacost
- Joe Morton
- Sherman Reese
- Clea Duvall
- Nan
- Samantha Eggar
- doctor
- Donna Murphy
- Natalie Streck
- Nick Cassavetes
- Alex Streck
- Gary Grubbs
- NASA director
- Blair Brown
- Shelly McLaren
- Tom Noonan
- Jackson McLaren
- Tom O'Brien
- Allen Dodge
- Lucy Lin
- Shelly Carter
- Michael Crider
- Pat Elliot
- Jacob Stein
- Calvin
- Timothy Wicker
- wide-eyed kid 1
- Brian Johnson
- excited fourth grader
- Sarah Dampf
- Paula
- Charles Lanyer
- Spencer's doctor
- Carlos Cervantes
- doctor
- Conrad Bachman
- reporter
- Rondi Reed
- Dr Conlin
- Seth Barrish
- yuppie shark
- Ellen Lancaster
- dried up socialite
- Julian Barnes
- waiter
- Priscilla Shanks
- woman
- Jennifer Burry
- second woman
- Susan Cella
- third woman
- Linda Powell
- fourth woman
- Lyndsey Danielle Bonomolo
- screaming girl
- Elston Ridgle
- security guard
- Robert Sella
- maître d'
- Samantha Carpel
- reporter, video
- Lahai Fahnbulleh
- taxi driver
- Stephen Berger
- doorman
- Michael Luceri
- waiter at party
- Ben Van bergen
- storage facility client
- Edward Kerr
- pilot
- Cole Mitchell Sprouse
- Dylan Thomas Sprouse
- twins
- Mia Babalis
- Trudi Forristal
- Diana Mehoudar
- Geoffrey B. Nimmer
- Allen Walls
- dancers
- Certificate
- 18
- Distributor
- Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd
- 9,812 feet
- 109 minutes 1 second
- Dolby digital/Digital DTS sound/SDDS
- Colour by
- Fotokem
- Prints by
- DeLuxe