Adjust your elegantly styled wigs, for we’re about to delve into a scandalous Judith Light romance that’s one of the better TV movies I’ve reviewed here so far, even though no one sleeps with danger or impregnates a nun played by Kristy McNichol. What we have instead is a good old-fashioned tale of a long-suffering wife, Lisa (Light), whose philandering husband, Eric (Jay Thomas), has a debilitating stroke just hours after she finally leaves him. Oh, and the new lover, Art (William Russ), who patiently helps her provide in-home care for her estranged husband even as they’re shunned by friends and family because of their unconventional arrangement.
After 23 years of marriage, Lisa has had enough of Eric’s gambling, drinking and carousing. At the beginning of the film she’s visited at her catering job by an unsavory character who issues a threat: “Your husband’s in big trouble. The people he owes want their money by five o’clock. Otherwise, there’s gonna be a knock at your door.” She tracks Eric down at a sports bar, where he’s celebrating a winning bet, and wearily asks “How much do you owe this time?” As usual, he dismisses her anger about the intrusions of his recklessness into her personal and professional lives.
A typical fast-talking Thomas character, Eric never stops bullshitting. His career as a documentarian has been stalled for years due to his vices. “You’re a fabulous filmmaker, you just don’t make any films,” Lisa tells him during another terse discussion about his waning employment prospects. As usual, he redirects: “You love to put me down for having a dream, don’t you?” he asks. “I married you because you had a dream,” she replies. “I didn’t marry a guy who plays the horses, or who plays around.”
Lisa has been stealthily plotting to start her own business, the better to support herself if she leaves the marriage. Discovering that Eric and one of his floozies schemed to drain her private bank account of a modest inheritance, the decision is made much easier. Light plays these scenes without getting overheated: Lisa is too exhausted by Eric’s deceptions to go in for theatrics. Before she has the chance to break the news to their kids, they call with news of their own—Eric’s been hospitalized after suffering a debilitating stroke.
Do the medical particulars of Eric’s illness or rehabilitation make any sense whatsoever? No. It’s all nonsense designed to facilitate dramatic contrivances. A doctor says “He could live a few weeks or he could go on a lot longer.” But Eric still possesses all his faculties and powers of speech. He can exit his wheelchair, walk with a cane, play video poker and complete crossword puzzles. Nearly the only thing he can’t do is accept that his marriage is over, even as Lisa embarks on a romantically-tinged friendship with Art, a thoughtful and supportive mechanic eager to help her at home.
“You have to understand the way that Eric and I have been living. He’s a man who never, not once since we’ve been married, ever cleared the table after a meal,” Lisa tells him. At first she’s uncomfortable with Art’s kind, unprompted gestures; she’s used to handling everything on her own. “I think taking care of a sick husband and working at night to start your own business, that’s a lot of work for one person,” Art observes. Their relationship progresses slowly and respectfully, with particular care given to Eric’s feelings even as he pushes their buttons. “What is this?” Eric eventually asks him “The Popular Mechanics version of Jules and Jim?”
In time, the three form a tight-knit bond that alienates their friends, neighbors, and Lisa and Eric’s children. Does Art’s gentle nature and boundless patience strain the bounds of credulity? Sure, as do his wide-ranging skills as a handyman, gourmet chef and small aircraft pilot. But Russ (Boy Meets World) has the quiet confidence to pull it off, whether he’s carrying Eric into the house or shaving his face. Even Thomas’s annoying shtick is moderately endearing at times, though you’ll puzzle over Eric’s inability to change his own nutrient bags.
The movie, naturally, belongs to Light. Her best scene is a confrontation with her daughter, who disapproves of Lisa’s relationship with Art.
Lisa: Some day you’ll understand.
Sarah: That my mother was attracted to greasy fingernails?
Lisa: Why every wife has to invent her own life.
Sarah: Even if that means torturing your own husband?
Lisa: I’m staying with your father because he asked me to. And because I love him. Art makes me able to do that.
Sarah: You admit that?
Lisa: That’s what you don’t understand. I love two men.
Sarah: There’s a name for women who do that.
A strange affair (1996)
Light doesn’t overplay such moments and there’s mercifully little suspense, either in her performance or Daniel Freudenberger’s teleplay, about whether Lisa will buckle under familial pressure and revert to prioritizing everyone else’s emotional needs above her own. Many TV movies pay lip service to the idea of the heroine made whole not by the love of a man but by finally loving herself. A Strange Affair, which shares a director (Ted Kotcheff) with, of all films, Weekend at Bernie’s, is the rare offering that backs it up with action more than dialogue.
Streaming and DVD availability
A Strange Affair (also known as A Husband, a Wife and a Lover) is currently out-of-print on DVD but can be purchased secondhand. You can stream it (free with ads) on either Tubi or via IMDb TV at Amazon.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
… But wait, there’s more!
Jay Thomas, who died in 2017, had a boorish reputation not unlike that of his character (for the uninitiated, you might look up why he was booted from Cheers). That’s why I appreciate a guest spot he did on Cybill, Cybill Shepherd’s ’90s sitcom, which is currently available across many streaming platforms, including Peacock, Tubi and Hoopla.
Shepherd’s actress character is filming a scene for a TV show and repeatedly flubs the medical jargon she has to yell while steering a gurney into a hospital. Thomas plays himself, guesting as the bloody, bandaged patient, and hits on Shepherd between takes, harassing her until she hits him over the head with a bedpan—something Lisa and Art undoubtedly wanted to do to Eric at times during A Strange Affair.
Cranky Lesbian is a disgruntled homosexual with too much time on her hands. Click for film reviews or to follow on Instagram.
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