The Substitute Wife (1994 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not as deep as could have been, but original and intriguing

[Milhaud · 7/10 · 15 June 2000]

Imagine this. In a pioneer farm in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, a women knows she is going to die in a few weeks because of a disease she has. She sets out to find another women to replace her with her husband and their four young children. Since there are six males for one female in that part of the country at that time, she has to fetch very far... and finally comes back with an aging prostitute (prostitutes start early to be aging...) who can't stand her life anymore. There is no other way for her husband to guarantee that he will be able to keep the family farm and their four children together after she dies.

Sounds odd to you? Actually, this starting point leads to some "triangle" situations that are even more peculiar. I liked to watch how the plot developed; many situations are clearly not predictable, and you can't really guess the conclusion before it comes up.

Granted, some aspects could have been developed more deeply, and you are left wondering about the realism of the story. For instance, how could the four children possibly react to such a situation? The movie doesn't really get into that. But then, it just preserves the unity of the plot, and you have more than enough watching how this courageous wife, this outsider women and this perplexed man-and-husband interact and work their way through this harsh and unusual situation.

I think this film clearly deserves more than the 5.2 / 10 it currently displays on IMDB. I give it a strong 7.

How to find a wife for your husband in the middle of nowhere.

[lee1888 · 7/10 · 14 January 2013]

The movie is set in the harsh environment of Nebraska in the late 1800s. Amy Hightower (Lea Thompson) is a farmer's wife with four kids who learns she is going to die. Realizing how hard it would be on her husband and four children, she sets out to find a wife to replace her when she dies.

Peter Weller plays the husband (Martin) in this heart warming movie. Amy searches for a wife but can only find an aging prostitute ( Farrah Fawcett) who wants to get out of the business to replace her. Once she brings back Pearl (Farrah Fawcett) to the farm the story really starts to unfold.

This is not a family picture and it is a slow moving movie but it holds up well with a great story line. You find yourself amazed at how modern Amy is through-out this ordeal, especially when Martin gives in and sleeps with Pearl.

This movie works because of the actors working so well together. This is one of those movies that you can acutely put yourself into. I really liked this movie and I think you will too.

The Substitute Wife

[dhannah1955 · 6/10 · 6 January 2014]

I thought the movie was good and kept me watching it but I was very surprised when it has a PG-13 rating. I wouldn't want my grandchildren watching it. I thought that it was very similar to the other Hallmark movies with a similar plot but this movie actually came first and I think that is why the other movies were improved on from it. I believe that back in those days they would not have had allowed actions in front of the children such as was in this movie. I really felt, all in all, that the movie was heartwarming and kinda sweet although I wouldn't have done it that way, I don't care what the ways were. Nice movie for a lady to sit down with a cup of tea and watch, not sure that the husband would appreciate it.

Genuine humour prevails

[tasha1 · 7 February 2001]

When I saw this film televised on British TV, I enjoyed it so much that I tried to get a copy for 4 years. Eventually I managed to get a second hand copy - all this by a woman who has never bought a movie video in her life before.

This film is extremely sad with amazingly funny moments interspersed. Just when you feel like crying over the sadness of the situation (the wife suffering badly and dying from cancer, watching her children interact with another woman, who appears stunning, glamorous and frustratingly desirable to her husband) a character will utter something that makes you roll about with laughter.

The film isn't supposed to be realistic, it would never happen surely, but even so it makes a fine story line and does test your emotions in all directions. Don't take the film too seriously, take it as it comes and enjoy every moment. The male actor playing the husband is completely fantastic in his role. His expressions and wry comments have you fascinated from the word go.

Get hold of a copy and enjoy a non-violent, entertaining tale of sadness, friendship and honour.

PS: I'm NOT a woman who enjoys sloppy rubbish films, so don't write it off as a womans film!

Farrah becomes the tingler.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 1 September 2021]

What makes a man tingle in regards to women? It certainly isn't a 70 something year old widow, but it certainly is the woman he's been married to for ten years and the only one he's been with. Now the life, Lea Thompson, is dying, and she wants to find someone to take care of her husband, Peter Weller, and their children. It's the old west in the 1870's presumably and widows quickly remarry out of necessity and widowers with children all seem to be looking for a replacement spouse and mother as well. There's no hesitation for Thompson to go farm to farm, but every presumably eligible widow is already spoken for, even those who are going through their spouses funeral. Thompson heads to the local small city and finds that the only available women are those who sell favors to men. That's where aging beauty Farrah Fawcett comes in, and she's most agreeable, mainly a rest but partly out of curiosity.

The usage of ironic humor has Thompson delightfully blunt, even going out of her way to have her husband and Fawcett make love. The relationship between the three people creates a bond, especially between the two women. Thompson gets the best material because of her determination and steals every moment. Weller is understated and gentlemanly while Fawcett begins to see the genuine love that Thompson and Weller has. But there seems to be a delay in her dying day and the growing affection between Weller and Fawcett has Thompson proposing a different approach since she still believes that her days are numbered. So the film mixes subtle pathos with humor and it's hard not to feel for these three decent people of different backgrounds. It's a no nonsense story of the necessity in tying up lose ends for a loving wife and mother who finds a real sweet friendship with the woman who is going to at some point take over where she left off.

Different, Original.

[taralynhuber · 7/10 · 15 April 2021]

I was captivated by this story because you don't see many stories like this. A woman is dying and finds someone to replace her to take care of her husband and children. Eventually the husband and the replacement start to care for each other and the wife approves. There is more to the story. Was sad and funny and very good story telling.

A Poor Man's 'Sarah, Plain And Tall"

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 16 August 2006]

The reminded me of "Sarah, Plain And Tall" except with some sex (no nudity) and some questionable values. If you read a critic saying this film was "a good one for family values" disregard it because those idiots who have no clue what values are. "Family values" does not mean a married man sleeps with his wife AND another woman just because that woman was going to be his wife in the future after the current one died. Sorry if that sentence sounds confusing.

Peter Weller, Lea Thompson and Farrah Fawcett won't be confused with the Glenn Close-Christopher Walken couple in "Sarah" but overall this is still a nicely-photographed, slow- moving decent story of generally good people. It's enough to make it a comparison to "Sarah" trilogy, which is a compliment, even if it isn't quite as good.

Shallow, slightly disturbing film

[kellyrantan · 5/10 · 15 August 2017]

I'm surprised how many supposed women reviewers like this film. The movie plays out as a stereotypical male fetish fantasy laughably gift-wrapped as a 'love story'. I'm all for polyamorous relationships, but when a wife is dying and the 'new' wife is having sex with the husband under the same roof of the dying wife, all with the dying wife's stamp of approval... This is just plain disturbing - very sad if it's true that women in those times had to resort to that. However the feeling of the movie is not of a genuine, sincere exploration of these circumstances. It's more of a male (probably married) director/writer living out his (very) soft porn Farrah Fawcett fantasies... If you're into that kind of thing you'll love this movie!

A refreshing western with a difference....there's not a gun in sight

[benbrae76 · 10/10 · 28 August 2006]

Why this movie isn't screened more often I can't understand. It was delicately and sensitively played by all the actors, and incorporated a gamut of emotions from comedy to pathos, but never becoming over-sentimental, gushy, or stodgy.

The problems of males "getting spliced" on the Prairies in the mid 19th century, must have been difficult to solve at any time considering there were about ten men to one woman. For a widower with a bunch of kids in tow it would have been virtually impossible, particularly if he was a sod-buster...the lowest of the low in farming circles.

This was beautifully and amusingly solved by the dying wife, by arranging impending nuptials between her soon to be bereaved husband and a whore looking for a way out of her present predicament.

The film is strikingly, if not lavishly photographed, has an intelligent well crafted script, which makes all the points it can out of a rather thin plot, and some lovely accompanying music to boot.

It may not appeal to others as much as it did to me, but it's well worth a watch, and I also think worthy of a place in anyone's library.

A beautiful depicted film, dealing sensitively with the given predicament!

[eileenmillie · 10/10 · 1 September 2016]

I had watched this film when it first came out and was left emotionally moved by it, so much so that when the opportunity arose to view it again came up i thought, yes why not! Lea Thompson played the wife who was dying. Loved and determination drove her to find someone to love and care for her husband and children when she was gone. Having loved someone deeply but being unable to be with them, yet being glad that someone else could be, I could relate how she would be driven by pure motives. The subject matter was dealt with in a realistic way and the acting was natural and drew me into the situation as an onlooker, being able to view the situation from each of the characters position. An excellent film, well worth the time taken to watch it!

How it should be~

[ladyann1213 · 31 July 2016]

I have to admit that I never expected Lea Thompson to do such an amazing job with this role but she was outstanding! The concept of the movie was seen through the eyes of the old west days and this I am sure was just too good to be true. But..."this is how it should be" in the face of adversity and one human being relies on another. It brings out the maternal instincts to a point of extreme in finding hope for the children in the near future not knowing if or when things will change but knowing that they WILL medically speaking. At first, it was slow but picked up with real emotion and Farrah was excellent in her role as well. She really depicts the true emotion of a "working women" not being kissed because that is intimate and special. So the real emotion came shining through when she finally intimately kissed back on the lips. Truly logical and sensible in the way the whole situation was handled yet in today's society I can't think of anyone that would put up with this arrangement! Brought genuine tears to my eyes and the friendship between Lea and Farrah was brought out in real tear jerking mode! I really loved it!

Plausible

[dezwartemaan · 8/10 · 6 August 2013]

I enjoyed the movie. It had slow moments, I mean.. a woman taking a carriage down the trail to a city a days travel away?... I know they used it to show how much she endured... but we got that the first 2-3 times. ;)

I do a bit of Genealogy and I have a situation where a Farmer ancestor married a younger wife before the older wife died. I was thinking.. "Mormon"?... then I saw this movie... perhaps this movie actually shows a plausible reason why he married a 2nd wife before the 1st died. I have no history in stories and no written accounts in the marriage license data. Left to speculate, but the fact that my ancestor showed 2 marriages, made me go... hrmmmm... and this movie became more real life to me in my eyes.

The movie played well on many accounts. The emotions, the hardships, the triangle as it moved into play. Very well done.

A prostituted wife.

[lionel.willoquet · 27 May 2001]

1869, at a farm in Nebraska. Amy Hightower (Lea Thompson) discovers that she is affected by an incurable illness. Wife and devoted mother, she decides to find a new woman for her husband, Martin (Peter Weller). Having finally persuaded her husband, Amy visits numerous widows, but always returns empty-handed. Frustrated, she eventually makes her proposition to prostitutes. One of them, Pearl ( Farrah Fawcett), accepts immediately...

Looking like "The Little House on the Prairie ", with a shot of vulgarity and a good dose of unlikeliness. On this insipid cream tart, a cherry: Farrah Fawcett!

different

[Kirpianuscus · 26 May 2017]

this is its basic virtue - it is a different western. not only because the classic confrontations between men front to saloon are absent but for the delicate, seductive and touching answer for a basic question about the brave men . it is a comfortable film. and one who, with high care, gives a precise portrait of family life in prairie, with humor and tenderness, bitter scenes and using the poetry of small details. a film like a book from lost age. with the perfect resurrection of atmosphere and a form of romanticism who not becomes too sweet as great virtues. so, a refuge. or, just a great and profound love story.