IMDb > The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
The Astronaut's Wife
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The Astronaut's Wife (1999) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
4.9/10   18,644 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Rand Ravich
Writer (WGA):
Rand Ravich (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Astronaut's Wife on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
27 August 1999 (USA) more
Genre:
Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller more
Tagline:
How well do you know the one you love? more
Plot:
A pair of shuttle astronauts leave their spacecraft to repair a satellite. There's an explosion. NASA loses contact for two minutes... more | add synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(35 articles)
DiCaprio Enters The Twilight Zone
 (From HollywoodNorthReport.com. 21 July 2009, 2:05 AM, PDT)

Leonardo DiCaprio enters Twilight Zone with Rand Ravich
 (From The Geek Files. 21 July 2009, 12:20 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Nice patient delivery and good ending even if it leaves unsatisfactory questions more (233 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Johnny Depp ... Commander Spencer Armacost

Charlize Theron ... Jillian Armacost
Joe Morton ... Sherman Reese, NASA Representative

Clea DuVall ... Nan

Donna Murphy ... Natalie Streck

Nick Cassavetes ... Capt. Alex Streck

Samantha Eggar ... Dr. Patraba
Gary Grubbs ... NASA Director
Blair Brown ... Shelly McLaren
Tom Noonan ... Jackson McLaren

Tom O'Brien ... Allen Dodge
Lucy Lin ... Shelly Carter
Michael Crider ... Pat Elliott
Jacob Stein ... Calvin, 2nd Grade Student
Timothy Wicker ... Wide Eyed Kid #1
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for violence, language and a strong scene of sexuality.
Runtime:
109 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS
Certification:
Portugal:M/16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 (cut) (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:18 | South Korea:15 (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #36008) | Philippines:PG-13

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
In this film as well as in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Charlize Theron's character begins in Florida, then moves to New York (where bad things happen to her). more
Goofs:
Factual errors: All NASA shuttle astronauts live and work in the vicinity of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, many of them in Clear Lake, a Houston suburb. Yet in the film, Jillian teaches school in Florida, where she and Armacost clearly live. Astronauts only go to Florida for launches. more
Quotes:
Spencer Armacost: I don't believe I could take much more of this honey. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Film Geek (2005) more
Soundtrack:
Four Beat Cha Cha Cha more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
44 out of 59 people found the following comment useful.
Nice patient delivery and good ending even if it leaves unsatisfactory questions, 15 November 2003
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Spencer Armacost and Alex Streck are on a mission in orbit to repair a sataleitte when NASA loses touch with them for two minutes. After this two minutes the pair are recovered and return to earth. However Alex dies of heart failure soon after return and his wife, Natalie, kills herself. Soon Spencer's wife Jillian falls pregnant with twins and they move to New York for Spencer to take up a job with a military aerospace firm. However Jillian begins to have doubts that Spencer hasn't been changed by his experience – doubts that are backed up by NASA scientist Sherman Reese.

Playing like a cross between Rosemary's Baby and Contact, this film attracted me to it on the strength that Johnny Depp was in the lead. The plot is interesting as I quite enjoy sci-fi when it is done well, although it maybe doesn't deliver everything you'd expect in terms of thrills. It has a nice slow patient build up throughout the film, we are invited to be unsure if Jillian is losing it or if she's catching on to the reality of her situation. A great performance by Joe Morton helps this uncertainty as he plays a NASA rep who may be unhinged as much as he is informed.

The director uses various tricks to help keep the film feeling tight. Shots flash quickly around the illustrate the panic and confusion in Jillian's head, the camera spins around some key confrontations to make the movement draw out pace etc, but for the most part he has a lowkey tension playing constantly which, for me, worked better than big shocks and scares. The `truth' is revealed a little too early, leaving the film with it's wad blown with still 20 minutes to go, and the climatic confrontation would have worked better with a rant that explains everything in terms of `why' and `who' – but the actual conclusion is pretty cool and maybe it's better we're left wondering.

Depp is OK in the lead but not his best work. He only has to walk round looking menacing and talking with the Texan accent and that's it! Theron is much better and she portrays Jillian so well that the audience aren't sure if she's crazy or not. Her gradual descent is well done and helped by the director. Morton is excellent in what amounts to little more than a cameo and the rest of the cast are pretty good.

Overall this is not a perfect film and is really a bit of a hybrid of genres, but it works pretty well. The slow build up of tension works well, even if it bails out before it should. The ending may be slightly unsatisfying but there's no denying it is a brave attempt. I enjoyed it even if I felt like a bigger ending was in order.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Line in the movie pg-13+ plz no young readers pepperw99
Johnny Depp's sell-out?? fuurgetaboutit
I didn't know Steve-O did acting! matt-2880
The missing quotes and a question *brief spoilers* DaNamesMatlock
Favorite Johnny Depp performance lyricshope
Moderately good movie. Warning - SPOILERS! piquebu
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