When Men Cheat Their Wives

Married men having extra-marital affairs or marrying a second wife is commonplace in our setting. It is a boring and monotonous story, some would say.

But to film director Nick Narh Teye, extra-marital affairs can always be made fresh, with a little creativity. And that is what he sets out to do in the movie "My Father's Wife" one of the Ghanaian movies from the studios of GAMA Films.

Edward Barnor, a top company executive, has been married to Katherine for over twenty years and has a daughter, Emma, by her. To Edward "love is so monotonous in the house". So to spice it up he secretly marries clinical psychologist Dr. Lena Sekyi and has a ten-year old boy with her.

"Lena gets what she wants and she needs, Katherine at least still has a husband, and Emma and Dan (the ten-year old) have a loving father," Edward tells his friend at the office in an excited voice. The thrill for him is to keep the balance as father and husband in both homes and keep his ten-year old polygamous status from either wife. Quite a thin rope to walk.

Katherine however comes to suspect Edward when his weekend business trips become a trip too many. Emma discovers a telling note from Dr. Sekyi in his father's diary, and in a disguise seeks professional help from Dr. Sekyi to deal with the increasingly sour relations between her father and mother.

For how long can Edward Barnor keep his game of infidelity and suspense going? "My Father's Wife", provides the answer. The storyline appears simple and quite predictable but the director does well to sustain the interest of the audience throughout the film till the end.

"My Father's Wife" draws upon a cast of some of the leading actors and actresses of the day: Pascaline Edward (Dr. Sekyi), Doris Sackitey (Katherine), Enoch Botchway (Edward), Nat Banini, Dan Tey Mensah among others. Generally these names live up to their billing. Nat Banini, though plays a minor role, remains very much in character as a chauvinistic chief of security who brooks no interference from any quarter, and definitely not from Dr. Sekyi who is "just a woman".

Fortunately for director Narh Teye the technical side of things is not bad either. Though not up to what one may find in a Hollywood box-office hit, lighting and camera work in "My Father's Wife", does not subtract anything from the film.

The film however presents some unnecessary puzzles to the audience. Edward is interchangeably described as the boyfriend and husband of Dr. Sekyi, leaving the audience to wonder about the exact nature of their relationship. Again, Dr. Sekyi's role as a clinical psychologist is sometimes confused with that of a private detective. Indeed she turns out solving a problem more for a detective than a psychologist. Clinical psychologists are not into the business of finding out the identity of the "other woman" in marriages.

Perhaps, thinking of a sequel the makers of "My Father's Wife" ends the story abruptly leaving the audience to guess what is likely to happen to Edward now that his two wives have caught him red handed at his game of deception.

But it is a film worth watching by the family. It offers lessons for husbands, wives and children. No matter how bad Edward Barnor appears, his relations with his children is admirable, and husbands, even the adulterous ones, can emulate it. It may help to keep an affair a secret.