A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

 Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "A Letter to Three Wives"


When it comes to run-of-the-mill Hollywood studio films, there aren't many that have the depth and sophistication that 1949's "A Letter to Three Wives" had. Based on a 1945 novel of the same name by John Klempner, "A Letter to Three Wives" lays bare the anxieties felt by modern post-war women in the new, burgeoning commercialized world. 

The film centers on three married women who receive a letter from the illustrious and mysterious Addie Ross. The letter announced that she has run away with one of the women's husbands, although she does not specify which. During their riverboat outing away from their spouses, the three women worry about which of their husbands has been unfaithful. We are shown three different flashbacks, each showing each women's relationship with her husband and the anxieties felt by how their husband might not be happy in their relationship. 

I think what's most important to consider is the theme that is wrapped very subtly around the engaging plot. The women live in a modern, commercialized world full of radio commercials, new and incoming fashions, the rapid wealth growth in America, and the new expectations for how a women should be. Each of these women are plagued by notions of how they should represent themselves, either from the men in their life or society in general. Because these women have such high expectations placed upon them, they feel as though they must fit some sort of presubscribed mode. The notion that they might not be meeting these expectations cause immense self-doubt, anxiety, and attempts at overcompensation. The film demonstrates the modern framework these women have to exist in and the new American standard that must be met. 

Overall, I very much enjoyed the film. It had both an entertaining plot as well as an interesting thematic resonance to the time it was released. I was getting worried that a Mankiewicz production would be nothing but excruciatingly boring after watching "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," but "A Letter to Three Wives" really surprised me.



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