The Stepford Wives
Directed by Frank Oz
- comedy
- science fiction
- horror
The story
What does it take to become a Stepford wife, a woman perfect beyond belief? Ask the Stepford husbands, who've created this high-tech, terrifying little town.
What it’s like
Bright, glossy suburban daylight over immaculate lawns and pastel kitchens, with the cheerful sheen of a 2000s studio comedy: saturated colour, tidy symmetrical compositions and a lot of ordinary rooms staged like showrooms. The town itself looks like a catalogue, all white picket fences and perfectly manicured hedges, and the hum of appliances and sprinklers carries as much weight as the score, which leans on bright, bouncy pop and jaunty orchestral sting. Its vibe is satirical gloss with a sinister undertow: campy, brittle and cheerful, the sort of comedy that smiles while something is clearly wrong. The pacing is brisk and farcical, with pratfalls, sharp one-liners and escalating set-pieces that never linger long on dread. The emotional register stays light: a high-powered career woman, newly arrived in a picture-perfect community, is pulled into its strangeness and gradually finds her footing against the artificial niceness around her. Violence is minimal and bloodless, with a few thriller beats and some sci-fi unease but no gore; the mood is more uneasy than frightening. Suited to a lazy comedy night, a playful sci-fi watch, or fans of satirical 2000s romcoms who like their jokes with a sting.
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