**/**** Image A Sound B+
starring Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, Joe Morton, Clea DuVall
written and directed by Rand Ravich
by Bill Chambers Given that it borrows liberally from Rosemary’s Baby and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), it’s not surprising The Astronaut’s Wife feels so uninspired, yet it’s a tiny bit surprising that nothing of either their grim appeal or their gift for turning lurid genre concepts (devil cults and pod people, respectively) into something profound really stuck to the surface of this film. Underimagined and overdesigned, writer-director Rand Ravich’s feature debut seems the product of not enough writing and too much directing.
Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp) is an astronaut whose latest mission hits a snag: a freak explosion disrupts contact with ground control for two full minutes, and though Spencer and his wingman return to Earth in one piece, neither can quite explain, nor do they care to try, what happened “up there.” FILM FREAK CENTRAL’s beloved Charlize Theron inherits the mantle of Mia Farrow as Jillian, Spencer’s adoring–and soon pregnant–schoolteacher wife; a succession of bizarre deaths and the newly aggressive sexual appetite of her husband lead Jillian to believe that whatever Spencer experienced was hardly a routine technical failure. When she’s approached by a twitchy, clammy scientist (a typecast Joe Morton) claiming evidence of her hubby’s possession by aliens…well, there goes her last shred of happiness.
The Astronaut’s Wife wants to evoke Rosemary’s Baby at every turn, as demonstrated by its subdued pacing, Theron’s pixie haircut, the presence of Nick Cassavetes (son of John, who played Rosemary’s duplicitous husband), fantasy sequences that might not be hallucinations at all, and, of course, Jillian’s impending motherhood. But it’s just window-dressing, ultimately–more superficialities in a movie that’s all surface. Ravich establishes an airy portentousness (may The Astronaut’s Wife be the last gasp of paranoia chic) with more vigilance than he does the plot. At the climax, we learn that Spencer is telekinetic; revealing a villain’s superpower so late in the picture is a hallmark of children’s literature, and by that I mean literature written by children.
The picture sometimes suggests the tasteful, A-list version of the misbegotten Species II, in which an astronaut returns from the first manned mission to Mars in a dangerously horny state. Species II may not look like a catalogue spread (this movie’s best joke is that DP Allen Daviau also shot E.T.), but at least it has the decency to be dirty and repulsive, sometimes at the same time. The Astronaut’s Wife–which a friend has taken to calling Astrowife, a better-sounding movie–is sterile to a fault. Granted, it has a secret weapon in Theron, who elevates the material far past watchable. She negotiates Jan Roelfs’s stark, gloomy sets (the Armacosts’ Manhattan apartment could pass for the city morgue; has an astronaut’s family ever been this cosmopolitan?) with fragile poise. Ravich’s screenplay is too crude to generate any appreciable suspense, but at several junctures, I caught myself tensing up, fearing for Jillian’s safety. As the victim of ludicrous circumstances, Theron donates a heart to a movie without a brain.
THE DVD
The Astronaut’s Wife is additionally made more tolerable by New Line’s top-drawer DVD presentation. Letterboxed at 1.78:1 (misidentified as 2.35:1 on the packaging) and enhanced for 16×9 televisions, the image is exceptionally detailed–one couldn’t demand more depth from the gifted Daviau’s purposely pale and low-key cinematography. Saturation is bold, although because the majority of sequences are either awash in orange or blue, judging the quality of the colours on this disc is futile. There is notable film grain in bright exterior shots, and I couldn’t be happier.
The DD 5.1 mix is a little too unassuming–the soundtrack’s disquieting stillness is at once thematically effective and irritating. Bass is at full throttle during flashbacks, while the surrounds remain active where George S. Clinton’s score is concerned. Just don’t expect many whiz-bang, demo-worthy moments despite the sci-fi nature of the film. Extras include widescreen, 5.1 trailers for The Astronaut’s Wife, Trial and Error (relevant to Theron), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (relevant to Depp), as well as cast and crew bios. DVD-ROM users can access Ravich’s full-length screenplay, scan the contents of the official The Astronaut’s Wife website, and employ a Lord of the Rings-themed browser. The hype machine begins early for Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated, ultra-expensive Tolkien trilogy.
110 minutes; R; 1.78:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround; CC; English subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; New Line
