THE MAD WIFE

Susan Bennett offers a chilling, melancholy performance as a 1950s mother and homemaker whose life unravels. Lulu desperately wants to conform to the dedicated lifestyles of the other wives in order to be a perfect wife, mother, and hostess. But as Lulu's daily repetitive schedule becomes oppressive, she slips away from reality. Bennett depicts Lulu's gradual transformation from wanting to fit in to being unable to adapt to the cookie-cutter housewife mold, escalating her crumbling psychological state. Bennett's Lulu is a solid depiction of how a repressive, stereotypical 1950s marriage results in a claustrophobic meltdown--with an unfortunately delayed diagnosis for Lulu's real condition. A distressing series of events. [Published: JANUARY 2026]