The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction/horror film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman. Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise starred in the film, which was remade in 2004.
While the film was only a moderate success at the time of release, it has grown in stature as a cult film over the years. Building upon the reputation of Levin's novel, the term "Stepford Wife" has become a popular science fiction concept and several sequels were shot, as well as the remake of the film in 2004.
Plot
Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) is a young wife who moves with her husband Walter (Peter Masterson) and two children from New York City to the idyllic Connecticut suburb of Stepford. Loneliness quickly sets in as Joanna, a mildly rebellious aspiring photographer, finds the women in town all look great and are obsessed with housework, but have few intellectual interests. The men all belong to the clubbish Stepford Men's Association, which Walter joins to Joanna's dismay. Witnessing neighbor Carol Van Sant's (Nanette Newman) sexually submissive behavior to her husband Ted, as well as her odd, repetitive behavior after a car accident also strike Joanna as unusual.
Joanna and Bobbie investigate Stepford. They are depicted wearing casual clothing, unfussy hairstyles, and little or no makeup. In addition, they are not wearing bras, indicating they are "Liberated Women" of the early-mid 70s. All of this will be in marked contrast to the perfect Stepford Wives.
Also evident is Director Forbes' style to make a "thriller in daylight", as described under
Production, below.
Things start to look up when she makes friends with another newcomer to town, sloppy, irrepressible Bobbie Markowe (Paula Prentiss). Along with glossy trophy wife Charmaine Wimperis (Tina Louise), they organize a Women's Lib consciousness raising session, but the meeting is a failure when the other wives hijack the meeting with cleaning concerns. Joanna is also unimpressed by the boorish Men's Club members, including intimidating president Dale "Diz" Coba (Patrick O'Neal); stealthily, they collect information on Joanna including her picture, her voice, and other personal details. When Charmaine turns overnight from a languid, self-concerned tennis fan into an industrious, devoted wife, Joanna and Bobbie start investigating, with ever-increasing concern, the reason behind the submissive and bland behavior of the other wives, especially when they learn they were once quite supportive of liberal social policies.
Spooked, Bobbie and Joanna start house hunting in other towns, and later, Joanna wins a prestigious contract with a photo gallery with some photographs of their respective children. When she excitedly tells Bobbie her good news, Joanna is shocked to find her freewheeling and liberal friend has abruptly changed into another clean, conservative housewife, with no intention to move from town.
Joanna's not yet finished double. The image of the robot's black empty eyes has a shocking surprise effect on the audience and Joanna. The effect has been repeated in two of the sequels/remakes.
Joanna panics and at the insistence of Walter, visits a psychiatrist where she voices her belief that all the men in the town are behind a conspiracy of somehow changing the women. The psychiatrist recommends she leave town until she feels safe, but when Joanna returns home, the children are missing. The marriage devolves into domestic violence when Joanna and Walter get in to a physical scuffle. In an attempt to find her children, she hypothesizes Bobbie may be caring for them. Desperate, Joanna stabs Bobbie with a kitchen knife trying to prove her humanity, but Bobbie doesn't bleed or suffer, instead going into a loop of odd mechanical behavior, thus confirming she is a robot.
Feeling she will be the next victim, Joanna sneaks into the mansion which houses the Men's Association to find her children, but chances upon the mastermind of the whole operation, Dale "Diz" Coba, and eventually her own robot-duplicate. Joanna is shocked into paralysis when she witnesses its soulless, black, empty eyes. It is then suggested that the Joanna-duplicate strangles the real Joanna. In the final scene, the duplicate is seen placidly purchasing groceries at the local supermarket, along with the other "wives" all wearing similar long dresses, large hats and saying little more than hello to each other. The final shot focuses on Joanna's now-finished eyes.
Cast
Cast notes
Production
The film was shot in a variety of towns in Western Connecticut, primarily in Darien, Westport, and Fairfield. Director Bryan Forbes purposefully chose white and bright colors for the setting of the film, attempting to make a "thriller in sunlight". With the exception of the stormy night finale, the film is almost oversaturated with bright light and cheery settings. All the locations were actual places; no sets were built for the film.
Nanette Newman as the archetypal conformist Stepford wife "Carol van Sant", epitomising the immaculate domesticity that became a cultural reference point, but a very different type from that originally envisioned by screenwriter William Goldman
Tension developed between Forbes and screenwriter Goldman over the casting of Nanette Newman (Forbes's wife) as one of the wives. Goldman had wanted the wives to be depicted as model-like women who dressed provocatively. But after casting Newman this was not to be, as Goldman stated he felt that Newman's physical appearance did not match the type of woman he imagined, and as a result this caused a change in appearance in costuming for all of the other wives.[1] Goldman has said that he found Newman to be a perfectly good actress, however. Goldman was also unhappy with some rewrites that Forbes contributed. In particular, Forbes toned down Goldman's "horrific" ending. Actor Masterson, who was friends with Goldman, would secretly call Goldman for his input on scenes creating additional stresses.
Casting
Initially, Joanna Cassidy was cast as Bobbie. When she left after a few weeks into production, her scenes were reshot. Tuesday Weld initially accepted the role of Joanna, but cancelled before filming began. Diane Keaton tested for the part of Joanna.
Reception
The Stepford Wives has a 67% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.com. Some critics deride its leisurely pace. Most applaud the "quiet, domestic" thrills the film delivers in the final third and earlier sections as "clever, witty, and delightfully offbeat".[2] As for the satire in the film, Roger Ebert wrote, "[The actresses] have absorbed enough TV, or have such an instinctive feeling for those phony, perfect women in the ads, that they manage all by themselves to bring a certain comic edge to their cooking, their cleaning, their gossiping and their living deaths."[3]
Ironically, initial reaction to the film by feminist groups was not favorable, inferring that it was "anti-woman." Cast and crew vehemently disagree, as the men in the film are characterized as "swinish and grotesque", and the heroine is dispatched in the finale. They maintain that critics misunderstand the premise, that Stepford is a sort of chauvinistic dystopia, and that the depiction of subservient, robotic women is intended as a satirical statement against traditional gender roles.
Awards and nominations
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror films
- Best Actress 1975 — Katherine Ross-Won
- Best Science Fiction film 1975 — nominated
Sequels
Many sequels have been produced over the years including:
Parodies and popular culture
- Married with Children - Season 11, Episode 10 was titled, "The Stepford Peg", where Peg (Katey Sagal) bumps her head on the coffee table after slipping on a candy wrapper and becomes a stereotypical housewife thanks to Al (Ed O'Neill) implanting suggestions that she does do housework.
- The Chronicle - Season 1, Episode 18 was titled, "The Stepford Cheerleaders."
- Homeboys in Outer Space - Season 1, Episode 10 was titled, "A Man's Place is in the Homey, or The Stepford Guys"
- Desperate Housewives - In Season 1, Bree Van de Kamp is said to be running for the "mayor of Stepford" because of her perfection.
- Newhart - Season 2, Episode 4 was titled, "The Stratford Wives."
Note: The BBC movie soundalike The Stretford Wives (2002) is not related.
References
External links
