The Rich Man’s Wife 1996

Josie Potenza is the trophy wife of Tony Potenza, a workaholic Hollywood producer whose high-stress career fuels a downward spiral of drinking. Their marriage shows clear signs of strain as his escalating habits collide with the pressures of the industry. Josie convinces him to escape to a romantic getaway at a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping the trip will mend what’s frayed. But when it becomes obvious that Tony’s studio concerns will always pull him away from serenity, she reluctantly tells him to go home while she stays behind, yearning for a little personal space and time to think.

On a night out, Cole Wilson fixates on Josie at a bar, and the uneasy attention pushes her to leave. Her Jeep breaks down on a dark, lonely country road, and as she begins to hike toward the cabin, Cole pulls up in his truck, offering a ride. He projects a false sense of harmlessness, and when he invites her to dinner the next night, Josie agrees. During their meal, she opens up about her unhappy marriage—acknowledging the problems, yet admitting she is grateful for what Tony has given her and still clinging to a glimmer of hope for their future. Cole grows aggressive and she resists his advances. On the drive back to the cabin, he cuts the headlights and drives erratically, sending Josie into a panic. When he tries to force himself on her, she grabs a gun she discovered in a kitchen drawer and fires, grazing his face. Cole leaves with a vow of revenge.

With time, Tony earns back his sobriety and the couple begins to repair their relationship. But on a rainy night, as Tony stops at an ATM, Cole hides in the back seat and forces him to drive to a secluded park, where he shoots him repeatedly. He then heads to Josie’s home, revealing that Tony is dead and warning that if she sources the police, he’ll claim she hired him, demanding a $30,000 payoff for his silence. The police question Josie, and her story—or the lack of one—puts Detective Dan Fredricks on alert, while his partner, Detective Ron Lewis, accuses the investigation of bias and questions whether her race and the white husband’s death color the suspicions.

Josie confides in her lover, the struggling restaurateur Jake Golden, telling him she knows who killed Tony, but he warns her not to reveal anything. Jake’s motive, however, is more tangled than she realizes: he had hired Cole in the past in hopes of making Josie free to marry him and profit from her wealth. Complications multiply when attorney Bill Adolphe informs Josie that all of Tony’s assets were in his name and he died intestate; the accounts are frozen and probate could take an unknown amount of time to resolve.

As Jake’s machinations unfold, Nora Golden, Nora Golden and Jake’s ex-wife, tries to persuade authorities that Jake may have killed Tony. The escalating danger draws Cole closer, turning him into a relentless threat. After Cole eliminates Jake, he traps Josie in her garage and she defends herself in a brutal confrontation, killing him in the melee. She pleads self-defense, and when Nora insists that Josie couldn’t possibly have orchestrated such a sequence, the police release Josie, unaware that the two women have formed a covert alliance and are now partners in crime. In the end, the truth remains buried beneath a web of secrets, shifting loyalties, and the fragile balance of a marriage that looked saved on the surface but was, in fact, always teetering on the edge.