The Rich Man's Wife

The Rich Man's Wife (1996)

Genres - Mystery, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Crime Thriller  |   Release Date - Sep 13, 1996 (USA)  |   Run Time - 94 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - R
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Synopsis by Karl Williams

This is a domestic thriller in the Hitchcock mode with a legalistic twist involving that modern invention, the prenuptial agreement. Halle Berry stars as Josie Potenza, the unhappy wife of alcoholic, philandering executive Tony Potenza (Christopher McDonald). Josie is unfaithful too, but she wants to salvage her marriage and proposes an alcohol-free vacation in a remote backwoods location. Tony agrees, but soon after they arrive, he's called back to work. Angry and lonely, Josie goes to a nearby bar, where she meets sympathetic Cole Wilson (Peter Greene), who's actually a psychotic ex-con. After hearing Josie's tale of marital woe, Cole proposes that he kill Tony. Appalled, Josie refuses, but soon Tony is murdered in a carjacking, leaving Josie the possible inheritor of millions. A prenuptial agreement that would've left her penniless in a divorce puts the LAPD on Josie's scent, while Wilson blackmails her and both her lover Jake (Clive Owen) and his cuckolded wife Nora (Clea Lewis) scheme to profit from Josie's loss. Writer-director Amy Holden Jones also wrote the screenplays for Mystic Pizza (1987) and Indecent Proposal (1993).

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Keywords

alcoholism, blackmail, contract, extramarital-affair, inheritance, marital-problems, murder, vacation