A Widow’s Game Review: She Mourns, She Texts, She Kills?
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Inspired by real events, Spanish thriller ‘A Widow’s Game’ (La viuda negra) follows the investigation into a man’s murder, where the primary suspect is his young 26-year-old widow.
Directed by Carlos Sedes, ‘A Widow’s Game’ stars Carmen Machi as Eva, one of the lead investigators on the case, while Ivana Baquero plays Maja, the widow and chief suspect in her husband Arturo’s (Álex Gadea) murder. However, Maja is first introduced as a grieving, religious young nurse who seems genuinely devastated by her husband’s death. But as Eva and her team begin digging into the case, a different profile emerges, one of a serial cheater with plenty of motive to get rid of her husband. With forensic analysis indicating the perpetrator was a man, the police’s primary challenge is to figure out who did the dirty deed for Maja.
‘A Widow’s Game’ is a rather straightforward murder mystery, divided into multiple segments, the first focusing on the investigators’ point of view. This is the grittiest part of the film, with Carmen Machi portraying Eva with a professional, no-nonsense attitude. Since the story is based on a real case (albeit fictionalized for dramatic effect), what stands out most is the police’s patience in unraveling the mystery without jumping the gun based on circumstantial evidence. Their painstaking efforts to wait and gather concrete proof eventually pay off.
There’s a slow, invisible cat-and-mouse game between Maja and the officers. Maja, thinking she’s in the clear, isn’t even aware that a match is still on. ‘A Widow’s Game’ is thus a clever title for the film, which begins to lose steam in the second half. Ivana Baquero is a gorgeous actor; however, her portrayal of Maja, a nurse with two jobs and a split personality, flitting between a pious, heartbroken widow and a woman involved in steamy affairs with multiple men, lacks the memorability one might expect. That said, it sometimes works in the film’s favor, as the audience is never truly swayed by her crocodile tears or victim act. But you never quite get the devious ‘black widow’ energy from her, nothing close to Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct”, Rosamund Pike’s chilling turn in “Gone Girl”, or even Georgia from “Ginny & Georgia”, who’s far more vivacious and cunning as a husband killer.
Apart from Maja, the other suspects in the murder case are three men connected to her, ex-boyfriend Andre, new love interest Daniel (Joel Sánchez), and a hospital co-worker named Salva (Tristán Ulloa). All of them are suspiciously close to Maja, as revealed through her texts, and the third part of the film uncovers what really transpired. The climax, of course, hinges on whether the cops can finally nab the real perpetrator and close the case.
What slows ‘A Widow’s Game’ down is its unnecessary voyeuristic focus on Maja’s sex life, which lacks the intrigue or sensuality to be truly erotic. Moreover, for a fictional thriller, the film often leans too heavily into documentary-style surveillance, repeatedly showing the cops watching computer screens and listening to Maja’s tapped phone calls with friends, family, and lovers. These scenes could have been far more dynamic had the creators used flashbacks or dramatized sequences showing Maja in action, living out the double life of the two-faced widow she is, instead of simply showing us a screen with an audio graphic.
This story would’ve worked better either as a tighter 90-minute film or a longer mini-series, because at two hours, it ends up shortchanging the one person who deserved more attention: Maja’s husband, Arturo. He’s criminally sidelined in his own murder tale, leaving ‘A Widow’s Game’ without a real sense of emotional closure. Arturo remains a vague, almost faceless victim, killed off by a young, ambitious wife with a hyperactive sex drive and zero moral compass, making his fate feel more like a plot device than a tragedy.
Overall, this film is a decent one-time watch for thriller enthusiasts looking for stories inspired by true crimes. Although, this game could’ve been far deadlier and more memorable.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘A Widow’s Game’ on Netflix.
Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)
