The Pastor's Wife (2011)

The story is based on the real-life 2006 media sensation where Mary Winkler murdered her small-town preacher husband.

Director:

Norma Bailey

Writers:

Diane Fanning (based on the book by), Robert L. Freedman (teleplay)

Stars:

Rose McGowan, Martin Cummins, Michael Shanks

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rose McGowan	...	Mary Winkler
Martin Cummins	...	Steve Farese Sr.
Michael Shanks	...	Matthew Winkler
Eric Keenleyside	...	Dan Winkler
Dolores Drake	...	Diane Winkler
Julia Sarah Stone	...	Hannah Winkler
Lilah Fitzgerald	...	Emily Winkler
Carrie Genzel	...	Elizabeth Rice
Kirby Morrow	...	Walt Freeland
Susan Hogan	...	Dr. Lynn Zager
Mark McConchie	...	Judge Weber McCraw
Kyra Zagorsky	...	Tara Bayless
Donna White	...	Millie Anderson
Jay Brazeau	...	Gene Castle
Lisa Durupt	...	Debbie Johnson

Storyline

The story is based on the real-life 2006 media sensation where Mary Winkler murdered her small-town preacher husband.

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Plot Keywords:

preacher | murder | title directed by female | domestic abuse | trial | 

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

La mujer del pastor

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Front Street Pictures, Preacher Road Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

User Reviews

I'm still not sure what to think of this one

I'm still not sure what to think of this one. It's trying really hard to be more than just another Lifetime movie about either a crazy woman who knocked off her husband or a male S.O.B. who got what he deserved when his wife shot him. The film has a lot of good aspects, notably the way it establishes how the authoritarian beliefs of the Church of Christ conditioned the events -- how the husband could literally believe his wife should submit to him and meekly accept him even when he hit her for trivial reasons, and also why his dark side would reveal itself in surfing for porn on the Net and ultimately in making his wife dress like a hooker before he could have sex with her (all those religious hang-ups about sex being only to make babies, not to have fun!). I also liked little bits like the woman prosecutor saying, when she receives notice that the wife and her attorney are going to present spousal abuse as a defense, "I wonder what took them so long." (Since the movie is already more than half over before this happens, I wonder what took screenwriter Robert Freedman and director Norma Bailey that long, too!) At the same time, there are just too many lapses into familiar Lifetime clichés for this to work as the atmospheric neo-noir it was clearly meant to be, and Rose McGowan simply looks too young to have been married for 13 years and have three children, the oldest a teenager. (Then again they may have wanted a young-looking actress because Freedman's script contains a lot of flashbacks to when Matthew and Mary Winkler were dating and Mary was still just a teenager herself.) The story deserved a better movie, but this one isn't bad, and Michael Shanks is marvelously understated as Matthew even though Lifetime did the abused-wife schtick much better in "Black and Blue" (in which the authority figure the wife didn't dare report as a spousal abuse was a cop instead of a minister).