TIFF 2021 Review: The Story Of My Wife

Writer/Director Ildiko Enyedi’s new movie ‘The Story Of My Wife’ adapts a Milan Fust’s 1942 novel of the same name.

This is Enyedi’s first English language movie and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Plot

The Story Of My Wife focuses on Jakob Storr, a sea captain who’s mastered the art of living on a boat surrounded by manly men, but lacks a woman to come home to while on dry land.

Our story starts as Captain Storr returns from a trip, but suffers stomach pains after a meal.  Jakob questions Habib, his longtime friend and Chef, who diagnoses him with ‘The Seaman’s Illness’.

Jakob has been single and living on a boat for many years, therefore the reason his stomach feels like a stone is simple.  Habib is married and doesn’t have it; Jakob is single and does.

Set in 1920’s Europe, Jakob, played by Gijs Naber, goes to lunch with his ne’er do well friend, Kodor, a schemer as much as a businessman.  Jakob announces he is getting married, he just hasn’t met the woman, yet.  Kodor plays along and suggests he marry the first woman to walk through the door of the cafe.  After a near miss with a not-so-ideal-marital candidate turning around just before she enters the door, Kodor slithers away.

Almost immediately, a stunning vision of a woman sits down at the table next to Jakob.  Not one to welch on a bet, Jakob approaches the woman, introduces himself, and asks her to be his wife.  Lizzy, played by two-time-Bond-Girl Lea Seydoux, plays along.

Marriage At First Sight

Lizzy rushes the get-to-know-you portion of the conversation, and we soon see why.  Dressed head-to-toe in a tan seersucker suit, fedora, and vanity cane; one of Lizzy’s many suitors approaches.  The newly ‘engaged’ couple tells him he’s too late, and wryly insults the clueless admirer.

Not one to let the game end, Lizzy and Jakob soon find themselves dressed up and through the wedding ceremony so quickly, we don’t even see it.  However, we do see Lizzy and Jakob playing Strip Poker on their wedding night, and Lizzy is so much better at it than Jakob.

The next morning, Jakob announces he’ll be back in four months and he hopes she’s still there when he gets back.  Lizzy insists she’ll be there.

The Good – The Story Of My Wife

The Characters

The foundation of any great story starts with it’s characters, and Jakob and Lizzy couldn’t be more perfectly opposite parties in this play.

Jakob is the ordered, literal, and logical Captain.  The clear communicator, the non-mysterious and straight forward man.  Lizzy is the whimsical, spontaneous, emotional Nymph.  The fun seeker, the game player, the living embodiment of Carpe Diem.

They might seem like opposites, but Jakob’s literal commitment to the ‘marry the first woman…’ challenge makes him seem more spontaneous to Lizzy.  As their marriage goes on, his true nature brings conflict with the more ethereal LIzzy.

The supporting characters reflect well on our two main characters as well.  Kodor not only provides friendship for Jakob, we see the passage of time through Kodor’s ups and downs.  Dedin provides friendship for Lizzy and a romantic rival for Jakob.  Dedin is everything Jakob is not; and provides depth and shading for Jakob’s growth as a character.

The Cinematography/Production Design

The look and feel of The Story Of My Wife truly transports us back to the 20’s and 30’s.  

The location shooting on both the boats and on dry land brings a sense of realism to the story.  While not being primarily about being at sea, we get plenty of snapshots that take us into that world.  The location shooting in France and Germany further the reality of both time and place.

Production Designer Imola Lang and Costume Designer Andrea Flesch build the distinct look of each location reflecting the state of Jakob and Lizzy’s relationship, and passage of time of their marriage.

Cinematographer Marcell Rev adds on with beautiful lighting and camera angles.  Bright and soft during the fun, early years of the marriage; darker and more harsh as the relationship starts to sour.

The Structure

The subtitle for ‘The Story Of My Wife’ proves key.  ‘The Floundering Of Jakob Storr in Seven Lessons’ might seem like it spoils the end of the movie in the subtitle alone.  However, it instead gives structure and stabilizes the time jumps covering several years in this film of nearly three hours.

For example, Number 3 frames the conversation ‘On Losing Control.’  For being a ‘lesson’ that starts mid-scene and goes on for nearly half an hour; we focus on Jakob’s need for order and stability, and Lizzy’s need for freedom and spontaneity.

When Lizzy finally confronts Jakob and says, “It’s useless to wait for life to accommodate you.  You must accommodate life.  Otherwise, life will punish you.”  The quote calls back to the lesson number, tying the two together.

The Bad

I hesitate to put this in the ‘Bad’ category, but it is did take away from the clarity of the story.

The open and close of this film starts with a message to Jakob’s fictional son, but it’s told in a foreign language and translated with subtitles.  Starting the film in a foreign language and subtitles is meant to help with the European setting and the multi-lingual reality of what that setting means.  Instead, it takes a rather ethereal message and complicates the meaning further.

Admittedly, while I’m an American reviewer who exclusively speaks English; I found the film’s use of subtitles in the opening and closing harder to absorb.  For a film that chose to have it’s premiere in North America, this seems an odd choice.

Had the opening been straight dialogue scenes, I would have not had a problem with the subtitles as one can infer meaning from body language and tone of voice.  But, the murky meaning and literal underwater video being used under the voice over was a leap too far to jumpstart this film.

The Review – The Story Of My Wife

Virtually everything in this film is well done.  

The central story of Lizzy and Jakob’s relationship is masterfully told and well executed by Gijs Naber and Lea Seydoux.  Supporting characters add depth, color, and just enough furthering of the plot without being a distraction.  Sergio Rubini’s ‘Kodor’, Louis Garrel’s ‘Dedin’, and Luna Wedler’s ‘Grete’ add just the right touches at just the right times.

While The Story Of My Wife’s runtime falls just short of three hours, the length is well used to absorb you into their world, without losing the narrative focus on the relationship.

The Production Design and Cinematography take us to that highly specific time in Europe between world wars, without ever referencing either in the film.

Ildiko Enyedi brings a distinctly European feel to this story that an American Director might not have been able to achieve in the same way.  The way we see both Kodor and Dedin specifically would have been significantly different if produced here in the United States.

This film was a blast to watch and review.

Additional Information – The Story Of My Wife

The Story Of My Wife IMDb page

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