Mia Luang (My Dear Wife). 1978. Thailand. Directed by Vichit Kounavudhi. Screenplay by Kounavudhi, based on the novel by Krisna Asosksin. With Jatupon Paupirom, Viyada Umarin, Wonguen Intrawuth. North American premiere. Courtesy Five Star Production Co., Ltd. In Thai; English subtitles. 145 min.
A sophisticated, Sirkian entry in Thailand’s domestic melodrama tradition, My Dear Wife exemplifies the genre’s preoccupation with class aspiration and marital discord in rapidly modernizing Bangkok. Director Vichit Kounavudhi, later named a National Artist, crafts an emotionally extravagant narrative centered on the rivalry between a legitimate wife and her husband’s mistress, set against a backdrop of rising middle-class prosperity and social ambition. The film’s widescreen cinematography, conjuring the look of midcentury American melodramas, lavishes attention on the material trappings of urban affluence—modern apartments, fashionable clothes, new automobiles—while its narrative explores the price of such advancement through the intense psychological warfare between its female protagonists.
Made during Thai cinema’s commercial peak, when local studios were producing hundreds of features annually for an enthusiastic domestic audience, My Dear Wife demonstrates the industry’s ability to adapt international melodramatic conventions while addressing distinctly Thai social dynamics. This new restoration by the Thai Film Archive preserves a vital example of how popular cinema could transform social tensions into compelling entertainment, offering contemporary viewers insight into a crucial period of Thai cultural history.
Digital restoration by the Thai Film Archive (Public Organization).