The First Wives Club


The First Wives Club is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson, based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton star as three divorcées who seek retribution on their ex-husbands for having left them for younger women. The supporting cast consists of Stockard Channing as the trio's friend Cynthia; Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, and Stephen Collins as the three leads' ex-husbands; and Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Berkley, and Marcia Gay Harden as their respective lovers. Supporting roles are played by Maggie Smith, Bronson Pinchot, Rob Reiner, Eileen Heckart, Philip Bosco, and Timothy Olyphant in his feature film debut; cameo appearances include Gloria Steinem, Ed Koch, Kathie Lee Gifford, Rob Reiner and Ivana Trump.
The film became a surprise box-office success following its North American release, eventually grossing $181 million worldwide, mostly from its domestic run, despite receiving mixed reviews. It developed a cult following particularly among middle-aged women, and as the actresses' highest-grossing project of the decade, it helped revitalize their careers in film and television. Composer Marc Shaiman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, while Hawn was awarded a Blockbuster Entertainment Award and both Midler and Parker received Satellite Award nominations for their portrayals.

Plot

In 1969, to celebrate their graduation from Middlebury College, Cynthia Swann gives her friends Annie MacDuggan, Brenda Morelli, and Elise Eliot matching pearl necklaces as parting gifts and makes them promise to always stay connected with each other. In the present day, the quartet have lost touch. Cynthia's ex-husband Gil Griffin, whose wealth originated from her family connections, has recently married his much younger mistress. She gives her housekeeper Teresa her pearl necklace and mails letters to her three former friends before commiting suicide by jumping off the balcony of her penthouse apartment.
Reuniting at Cynthia's funeral in New York City, the surviving trio realize their current predicaments mirror Cynthia's. Annie is separated from her advertising executive husband, Aaron Paradis, and suffering from low self-esteem, while Oscar-winning actress Elise is struggling with alcoholism, her fading beauty and career, and a pending divorce from film producer Bill Atchison, who is now involved with young aspiring actress Phoebe LaVelle. Meanwhile, Brenda faces financial troubles after divorcing her husband Morty Cushman, who runs a successful chain of electronics stores.
Annie is stunned when Aaron admits he has been dating their mutual therapist Leslie Rosen. Elise attempts to revive her career by taking on a new female leading role. However, she is instead cast as the lead character Monique's unattractive mother, while Phoebe will be portraying Monique. Brenda encounters Morty's young and beautiful girlfriend, Shelly Stewart, who disparages Brenda's weight. Internalizing Cynthia's letters, the three women, having been instrumental in their husbands's individual successes, decide to pursue "justice" over revenge by forming the "First Wives Club", using a property of Elise as their base.
Chris, Annie's daughter, gets a job at Aaron's advertising agency. Covertly monitoring him, she discovers that Aaron's partners want to sell their share of the agency, but Annie lacks the funds to buy them. Concurrently, Elise forcefully repossesses numerous pieces of artwork and furniture that she bought Bill. She then secretly sells them for one dollar to Annie, who auctions them off at Christie's. At the auction, Duarto and Gunilla goad Shelly into spending most of Morty's fortune, allowing Annie to buy out Aaron's partners. Brenda discovers from her Sicilian paternal uncle Carmine that he and her father helped Morty establish his first store by selling stolen merchandise and that Morty's financial records have been fabricated. Aided by her boss Duarto Feliz and Elise's oft-married prominent socialite friend Gunilla Garson Goldberg, the three women manipulate Shelly and Morty into vacating their home. The trio then furtively obtain the fraudulent records.
While the three initially rejoice over the victories, Elise becomes increasingly discouraged at being unable to find any evidence against Bill. After a vicious fight among the women, Annie quits the club. Elise and Brenda reconcile and convince Annie to rejoin, now looking beyond simply "justice" for themselves. Elise also reveals that she has decided to focus on bonding with Phoebe rather than on her relationship with Bill himself, exploiting Phoebe's starstruck attitude towards her regarding their upcoming film.
Brenda and Carmine abduct Morty, threatening to expose his fraud unless he relinquishes his business to her. Annie signs off on buying out Aaron's former business partners' share and taunts him, revealing that she has landed a new, lucrative $45 million account, thus nullifying his role in their business. Confronting Bill, Elise reveals that Phoebe is actually 16 years old, producing Phoebe's high school yearbook and her birth certificate. The trio coerce their men into agreeing to fund their "justice", using the money to establish a crisis centre for women, named after Cynthia and located at the former headquarters of the First Wives Club.
During the grand opening celebration, Morty concludes his affair with Shelly and reconciles with Brenda as their son Jason happily looks on. Shelly flirts with Bill, though he hesitantly probes her age. Elise, now starring in a successful Broadway play titled Of A Certain Age, has begun dating a co-star. Annie, now more confident and self-assured, rejects Aaron's request to rekindle their relationship. After the party, the three women reminisce and together triumphantly sing "You Don't Own Me", dancing into the streets.

Cast

  • Bette Midler as Brenda Morelli-Cushman, a wise-cracking Sicilian-Jewish single mother who helped set her husband Morty on his feet financially, before he left her for his younger employee Shelly, cheating her out of an equitable settlement. She later blackmails Morty to get ownership of his business. However, when she realizes Morty is contrite about his sins, Brenda accepts attempts at reconciliation of their relationship.
  • * Michele Brilliant as young Brenda Morelli
  • Goldie Hawn as Elise Eliot-Atchison, a former one-time Oscar-winning actress, now an alcoholic and heavy smoker relegated to B movies due to her "unprofitable" age. Her husband, Bill, who left her for another woman, is suing for alimony and insisting that all of their joint assets be sold and the profits be divided between them. She liquidates their assets by selling them to Annie for a very low amount, and Annie auctions them so she can buy out her husband's partners. Elise also blackmails Bill about dating a minor.
  • * Dina Spybey as young Elise Eliot
  • Diane Keaton as Annie MacDuggan-Paradis, the vehicle for the film's sporadic voice-over and its central character; an anxious and slightly neurotic housewife, saddled with self-esteem problems, attempting to save her marriage with estranged husband Aaron – much to her daughter's dismay. After Aaron has sex with her and then leaves her for her therapist, she decides to band together with Brenda and Elise to form the First Wives Club. Annie learns that Aaron is having problems with his advertising firm partners through the help of her daughter, and buys them out at the end of the film; making her the majority owner of Aaron's firm.
  • * Adria Tennor as young Annie MacDuggan
  • Maggie Smith as Gunilla Garson Goldberg, a wealthy New York City socialite who helps the First Wives Club with their schemes because she was once a first wife, as well as a "second, third and fourth wife", according to Annie. She fools the social climbing Shelly into thinking Duarto Feliz is a reputable decorator.
  • Sarah Jessica Parker as Shelly Stewart, Morty's dim-witted but manipulative fiancée. It is indicated throughout the film that Shelly believes a position in high society can be obtained through money and the protagonists exploit her social-climbing attitude for their revenge. This is Parker's second film with Midler as her co-star, the first being the 1993 Disney film Hocus Pocus. Despite having a substantial supporting role, Sarah Jessica Parker is not listed in the opening credits and appears only in the closing credits.
  • Dan Hedaya as Morton "Morty" Cushman, Brenda's ex-husband, an electronics tycoon, who takes advantage of his former wife's having signed an out-of-court settlement – just to finance his girlfriend Shelly's extravagant taste. He is later blackmailed into giving Brenda a substantial amount of his money when she and her Uncle Carmine obtain proof of Morty's criminal activity. This later causes him to apologize to Brenda when he realizes Shelly only loved him because of his money, leading to his and Brenda's reconciliation.
  • Stockard Channing as Cynthia Swann-Griffin, a college friend of the three main protagonists, who dies by suicide after her husband, Gil, leaves her and marries his young mistress three days after their divorce is finalized.
  • * Juliehera Destefano as young Cynthia
  • Victor Garber as Bill Atchison, a successful film producer, who rose to fame through Elise's connections and eventually left her in favor of a young starlet
  • Stephen Collins as Aaron Paradis, Annie's conflicted husband and CEO of an advertising agency, who leaves his wife for their therapist, Leslie Rosen. Eventually, he is left alone as Leslie runs off and Annie does not want him back.
  • Elizabeth Berkley as Phoebe LaVelle, an up-and-coming actress, living with Bill. Bill is under the impression she is 21, but Elise investigates and reveals to Bill that she is 16 years old and a high school dropout.
  • Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Leslie Rosen, Aaron's short-time affair, who is the therapist for both Annie and Aaron. Leslie has been "helping" Annie with her self-esteem problems.
  • Bronson Pinchot as Duarto Feliz, Brenda's boss and "one of the ten worst interior decorators in New York City". He uses his role as decorator to help the First Wives Club sneak into Morty and Shelly's apartment.
  • Jennifer Dundas as Christine "Chris" Paradis, Annie's lesbian and feminist daughter, who resents her father for what he is putting her mother through. She gets a job working at her father's advertising firm to spy on him for Annie. This is the second film in which Dundas plays Keaton's daughter, having previously done so in Mrs. Soffel.
  • Eileen Heckart as Catherine MacDuggan, Annie's "controlling" mother. By the end of the film, she tells Annie that she is proud of her and does not need anyone to make her happy.
  • Philip Bosco as Uncle Carmine Morelli, Brenda's paternal uncle and part of her family's Sicilian Mafia connections. He is the one who informs Brenda that Morty had his stores stocked with stolen electronics, which the Mafia had done to help Morty and Brenda financially during the shaky early years of their marriage.
  • Rob Reiner as Dr. Morris Packman, who warns Elise against overdoing it on plastic surgery
  • James Naughton as Gil Griffin, Cynthia's ex-husband
  • Ari Greenberg as Jason Cushman, Brenda's son, who is caught in an emotional battle between his parents
  • Aida Linares as Teresa, Cynthia's loyal maid
  • Ivana Trump as herself
  • Kathie Lee Gifford as herself
  • Gloria Steinem as herself
  • Edward I. Koch as himself
  • Lea DeLaria as Elise's fan
  • Debra Monk as jilted lover
  • Walter Bobbie as man in bed
  • Kate Burton as woman in bed
  • Gregg Edelman as Mark Loest
  • Harsh Nayyar as Mohammed
  • Timothy Olyphant as Brett Artounian, a film director who is interested in casting Elise as the main character's aging mother in his new film
  • Edward Hibbert as Maurice, a barman serving Elise as she drowns her sorrows
  • J. K. Simmons as federal marshal
  • Heather Locklear as Gil's new wife