MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Wife’: A Sensitive Look at a Homeless Woman

Michel Negroponte’s beguiling “Jupiter’s Wife” takes us into the unique universe of Maggie Cogan, a longtime resident of Central Park, with the utmost sensitivity and discretion. Negroponte approaches Cogan with a passion for discovery and understanding. The result is an illuminating, beautifully wrought film of charm, humor and unexpected emotional impact. Dismiss all those feelings of dread at the prospect of watching a documentary on a homeless person and you’re in for a treat that may lift your spirits while expanding your horizons.

Cogan is a sturdy, weathered, middle-aged woman with a hefty backpack and four dogs on leashes. She is witty, articulate, clearly of superior intelligence. She also declares that she is the wife of the Greek god Jupiter--and the daughter of the late actor Robert Ryan.

She also claims she has ESP--and she very well may be right on that score.

Never does Negroponte make Cogan feel that she’s a crazy woman but instead befriends her, gradually gaining her trust. Clearly Cogan, who says she became homeless in 1986, is formidably self-reliant and, as it turns out, has something of a support network, even a guardian angel, in the vibrant Katina Pendleton, wife of actor Austin Pendleton.

What emerges with a grace that is as spiritual as it is aesthetic is a celebration of living close to nature--never did Central Park ever seem so lyrical. Yet the film also becomes an exemplar of how caring individuals can help a homeless person--provided that he or she is capable of accepting and receiving help.

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At heart, however, “Jupiter’s Wife” is a detective story requiring the utmost delicacy and soundness of judgment. Understandably intrigued, Negroponte attempts to discover what traumas or series of traumas so completely devastated Cogan at some point in her past. Remarkably, he manages to get answers without betraying or exploiting Cogan--or anyone else. “Jupiter’s Wife,” a kind of cosmic mystery story, is too full of surprises and revelations to give anything away here. The key point is that Cogan was able to draw upon her knowledge of Greek mythology to help her make sense of her life after it was shattered.

As this wonderfully affecting film progresses, so, seemingly, does Cogan’s self-awareness. But the great thing about “Jupiter’s Wife” is that it doesn’t go too far in any aspect. It doesn’t exploit Cogan, it takes leave of her grateful that she’s better off at the film’s end than when we meet her, and it is wise enough to know that her future can only be viewed tentatively.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film is suitable for all ages.

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‘Jupiter’s Wife’

An Artistic License release. Producer-director-cinematographer-editor Michel Negroponte. Co-producers Doug Block, Jane Weiner. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

* In limited engagement at the Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd. St., Santa Monica, (310) 394-9741.