MovieChat Forums > Arbitrage (2012) Discussion > The Wife's Threat - help

The Wife's Threat - help

posted 12 years ago by Gabby-4
16 replies | jump to latest

I thought I understood it at the time, but maybe someone can clarify this for me -
Gere's wife was furious that he involved their daughter in things.
She was aware of his affairs and "looked the other way". What was her ultimatum to Gere's character? What did she want the daughter to have? The company had been sold already and Gere had set it up for both his children to have 5 year job contracts, etc. She was threatening to leave him if he didn't do what.....give the daughter what?
In the end, they were still together, so I suppose he went with her plan.
Although, it looked like the daughter would never forgive him.

[–] sweetnirvana 12 years ago

Miller's wife wanted him to transfer all his liquid assets to their foundation which will be run by their daughter. Her way of ensuring their children's future.

[–] bleak 12 years ago

That's right. Miller's wife could see that he was pissing away everything that they had both worked for, and she was simply insuring that her children would not be harmed by his douchebaggitude.

[–] ziko-metal 11 years ago

"he was pissing away everything that they had both worked for"
.. She didn't work for their fortune, he did, she just donated on charities.

[–] DimitrisIMDb 11 years ago

that's right! as long as he made tons of money she was ok and playing the good rich lady who donates, and when a bad thing happened to her husband she abandoned him and took most of their fortune. She even blackmails him that she can send him to prison, how ungrateful!

[–] jabberwalkie78 12 years ago

I think it was more than just that. She wanted him to restore their daughter's faith in him and therefore heal the pain his "betrayal" had caused their daughter. By giving up his money(without the daughter knowing that he was blackmailed into it) he would earn back their daughter's respect. In short - the wife did it also to heal her daughter not just to hurt him.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] yesmath 12 years ago

"In the end they were still together"...No actually that was just for that evening; they'd separate later because the document was a marriage separation, but there was no date set, so why not keep up appearances for their big charity (hospital) gala?

The first line of the separation document said "in the event of marital litigation, they agree to disclose their true finances to the other party", the second line said Brooke gets to own and operate the charity (not the business that was just sold, so that was a deal the wife may not have known about).

FYI The next bolded headings on that page in the separation document were: support, income taxes, mutual release, waiver of election against estate. Under support it said "neither of the parties..is obligated to support the other party"

imho: the Brooke clause was really out of place in this document!

[–] boydigital 12 years ago

"imho: the Brooke clause was really out of place in this document!"

But it certainly wasn't out of place in the context of the narrative.

[–] Gabby-4 12 years ago

Thanks everyone for your answers. I have a better understanding now.

2 1/2 Men.....makes me sick. That kid is right.

[–] monstermayhem32 12 years ago

Ellen finally had enough of Robert's con when Brooke was the one that got hurt in the scheme and lost faith in her dad.

[–] imvaughn 11 years ago

It isn't even shown that he signed the papers. He just walks out of the room. I doubt he signed the papers. I would be he didn't. And I would bet his wife wasn't going to go to the police. She knows that all her charities, social status, and etc would fall. Think about Bernie Madoff's wife. I doubt she's still hanging with her old circle. No one would want to hang around the wife of a murderer. No one would want to donate to her charity. She would lose all her social standings. In circles like these ( house wives) have no social standing. Their worth is all about their husbands. Charities are like hobbies to them. She would be outcasted. Her daughter too. Her family filled with scandal.

I bet Richard never signed the paper.

[–] twinkiesmom1 11 years ago

Does the wife even know that they're broke because the majority of the sale went to plug the hole? He did tell the daughter "at least we get to keep the house"...That says to me that there is no money left to fund the charitable foundation in the wife's paperwork. It seems to me that he won't sign the papers, she won't turn him in, because her bigger need is for him to maintain their lifestyle, and he's essentially starting over. Because the perception is that he's made 525 million, he can easily parlay that perception into the next deal or position.

[–] april_rain 11 years ago

I too think that he didn't sign that paper. The daughter was already told about the money that will go to plug the hole. She is pissed at him for commiting such a fraud and falling from grace.
The wife thinks that the reason he is not giving the money to the charity is that he wants to use it for his personal "hobbies". Hence, the blackmail. In the last scene she knows the bitter truth about their financial status. That's why she is royally pissed.

[–] whisk-a-whoa 11 years ago

I don't think the wife had any leverage here. The judge already found that the case detective was dirty and threw out their only connection to the "crime", the drivers pickup, which was a tragic error that the police wanted to characterize as murder to get their badges shinied up.
Anyway, all his lawyer needed was the seperation agreement to prove the wife was a controlling opportunistic individual. It would be her word against his. Ultimately it would be her world that shattered no matter the legal outcome, should she testify against him.
To think that a guy like Robert Miller, a supposed Wall Street genius, could be outfoxed by his wife is almost comical. I think it was a mistake on the writers part to even leave that possibility open. Miller had no choice. The accident was unfortunate but it WAS just an accident. He was right that many more families would be hurt by exposing the truth. It was no more than an unfortunate series of events in my opinion, predicated by his wife's failure to keep him satisfied at home.

[–] imadbasayev 10 years ago

It was no more than an unfortunate series of events in my opinion, predicated by his wife's failure to keep him satisfied at home.

Nice lol.

[–] kperera 10 years ago

Yeah I was really impressed by this film, but the ending did feel a little hastily sewn up, almost like the film-makers had to change the ending at the last minute, to a more 'moral' conclusion, as far as the Gere character was concerned. Maybe test audiences wanted the wife to get revenge.

I would have loved it if he had gotten away with it completely; the wife finds out about the affair and the accident coverup, but has to accept it to maintain her quality of life. The daughter is hugely upset about the financial dealings, but has to maintain the status quo in order to keep the whole family and company going. She already demonstrates this behavior with her tensely worded speech at the gala. Everyone has to soldier on, each with a dark secret, just like real-world wealthy people.