How to Be a Good Wife (2020) User Reviews

Good fun but strange ending

[lorraine-benn · 7/10 · 13 December 2020]

Most of the film was quite a good send-up of the finishing schools for young ladies in the early part of the 20th Century. However, I felt that it suddenly jumped to a musical about the Feminist Movement of 1968 without really taking us along. I liked the three main characters, played by Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau and Noemie Lvovsky, even though the comedy was a bit overdone in places. People who are old enough to remember 1968 would appreciate the old-fashioned attitudes about the expectations of a good wife, and the changes that took place in the Feminist Movement. However there was not enough explanation in this film, of the reasons that the teachers and students of this school became involved. I felt that the good actors were wasted on a film that was too light and fluffy.

May 68 in a girls' boarding school in Alsace.

[zutterjp48 · 6/10 · 10 June 2021]

May 68 is an important moment of the history of France !! The young girls are listening to Ménie Grégoire who speaks to the French women about their body and their sexuality !!

Sincerely this is not the best one of juliette Binoche, but it's also not the worst of Juliette Binoche !! I enjoy especially the beginning when Juliette Binoche explains the rules for being a good wife, some other moments are simple or too caricatural and again we have some funny moments. And one positive point: the friendship between women.

Too bad about the ending

[vexter · 6/10 · 22 July 2021]

It's a lovely whimsical comedy up until the last 5 or 10 minutes. The ending came off as too heavyhanded and forced and like the screenwriter ran out of ideas.

Instructions for servility

[esteban1747 · 7/10 · 16 January 2022]

French comedy, funny at times, which delves into the conventional precepts as lessons for young girls aspiring to marry and be good wives. Teaching center was located in Alsace, territory recovered by France from Germany. The study material and classes were very typical of a feudal regime; nothing to do with the moments lived between 1967 and 1968, date in which the film is fitted. This conservative instruction still prevails in the minds of many people of older generations and even of those who miss absolute monarchies. Within all that doctrine, if it can be called that, it is taboo to talk about divorce, abortion, women's liberation, much less homosexuality. Girls didn't even know what was a masturbation. What matters is that those women learn well to understand her husband, his needs and his concerns. The merit of the movie was to show how harmful were those conservative postulates, and how the world evolves and brought about new attitudes. The film elapses during 1967 and 1968 when youth protests occurred in France and Italy, which they did not achieve their objective of seizing power, but had an enormous influence on the behavior of the new generations from that moment and henceforth, with more liberalism and less prejudice.

Hmmm?

[oscarmichel-25492 · 3/10 · 21 July 2020]

Set in an interesting time of the French history, that must be the only interesting part of the story. Actors are okay but the message is ridiculous.

Good acting but dreadfull storyline

[vogelgi · 2/10 · 1 September 2020]

Sorry, but I regretted watching this. What a waste of resources.

A good nap

[moolinet-224-992718 · 2/10 · 1 January 2021]

I don't understand... lot of money for what ? A good network with Télérama to apply lobby !

Juliette Binoche is brilliant!

[lizarmstrong-60293 · 8/10 · 26 September 2020]

This film is purely meant to entertain, and that it does! While it won't be winning any Oscars this year, it will certainly bring a smile to your face! One of Juliette Binoche's most interesting roles in recent years. Take a chance on this one! You won't regret it.

Why

[portengenko · 3/10 · 1 July 2020]

I can see no reason why this movie is made. No relevance at all

Utterly woeful

[artee-4 · 1/10 · 27 January 2021]

I forgive whoever made this movie as I have enjoyed many wonderful French movies but this is definitely not one of those and I really cannot think of anything positive to say about it. Some people mention the ending but I couldn't comment as I had left long before it got there.

Probably the worst movie I've ever watched

[luis-p-silva · 1/10 · 28 April 2021]

By far the worst French movie I have ever watched. I would've left the theater if I wasn't with someone who wanted to stay till the end. I can't put into words what I disliked more about this movie, when I thought about it was bad, boring and nonsense plot, the ending was just... I'm speechless. Don't waste your time time with this.

Has anyone managed to watch until the end?

[sakuradu73 · 1/10 · 5 July 2021]

There was nothing good about this movie. The story is boring, the scenario not funny at all and none of the teenagers can play. Thank god I didn't pay a cinema ticket to watch it. It can be used on a rainy Sunday afternoon to take a nap.

La comedie in a French style

[privetas-865-961186 · 9/10 · 17 October 2020]

Cheerful. Emotional. Cheerful. Dumb. Cheerful. French. I enjoyed a lot. Maybe a little bit over feminist and over musical ending. But still recommended as a good mood movie.

Boring and false

[luigimilani-213-873793 · 3/10 · 8 December 2022]

The film is a pleasant comedy until the last 5, 10 minutes, when it turns into a cloying and forced ideological musical. Juliette Binoche is good as always, but sometimes she goes too much and her acting becomes excessive, strident.

The setting is pleasant and the underlying idea would be valid, but the whole film appears forced, artificial, false. It's all too shouted and far-consuming.

Usually French comedies tend to be pleasant and light. This sounds like it, but it's actually boring, fake and silly.

The soundtrack is one of the most successful things about the film, but the acting of the other actresses leaves much to be desired.

Don't waste Your time. Not recommended.

Absolutely Funny and Memorable

[gettingyoustartedtoday · 10/10 · 12 February 2023]

Typically tough teachers of yester year with their real personalities popping out throughout the film. Delightful written, touching on taboo subjects of the time. Teenage girls will always be rebellious and thoughtful no matter the life they live in. This film was not about them. They are there for the background. This movie is entirely the domain of the teachers. A lost love. Family commitments. A whole range of secrets and dreams. Mostly this is about the married owner of the school and her sister in law. She is creepy and funny and weird all at the same time. She is the real star of this movie. Her and her stylish sister in law find liberation, happiness and a new independence, along with the students they teach. I watched this in another language with closed captions. Thoroughly delightful.