The best, perhaps the only reason to see “The Artist’s Wife” is Lena Olin, an actor incapable of giving a so-so performance. As Claire, though, the devoted spouse of the title, even Olin is unable to salvage this pulpy portrait of a onetime artist who has laid aside her own talents to enable those of her husband. As the gorgeous handmaiden to Richard (an enjoyably tetchy Bruce Dern), a celebrated painter, Claire runs errands and fills the refrigerator in their Hamptons home with healthy produce. But Richard is becoming forgetful and inappropriate with his art students, his crustiness erupting into tantrums and the canvases for an upcoming exhibition standing accusingly unfinished. His diagnosis of Alzheimer’s sends Claire to New York City to persuade Richard’s long-estranged daughter, Angela (Juliet Rylance) — a resentful single mother — to reconcile with her ailing father.

Source: New York Times September 24, 2020 10:52 UTC