Jonathan Duffy and his partner Dr. Vincent Cornelisse decide to move from Brisbane to the more rural town of Mundubbera in Australia. Making the decision based on an opportunity for Vincent to further his medical career, the couple move despite fears form their friends that they wonāt be accepted due to their sexuality. Armed with a camera, Jonathan films the coupleās experience as they discover the rural town isnāt quite as unaccepting as they both feared it may have been.
The Doctorās WifeĀ is a documentary about learning to live in new circumstances and acceptance. As it opens, the documentary finds Jonathan and Vincent worrying that they could be letting themselves in for a very difficult time by moving to Mundubbera. The Australian countryside is not known for its liberal thinking and many of the coupleās friends express their surprise and fear about the decision.
Once the couple make the move the locals are interviewed about their reactions when they found out a gay couple was moving into their town. For the most part the locals admit they were surprised at the coupleās boldness but none of them seem all that bothered. The set-up makes you expect that the couple will have to overcome adversity to earn their place in the society and that isnāt really the case. Fair enough Jonathan throws himself into the community for acceptance but you feel heās more concerned about being accepted than the community is about accepting him.
The Doctorās WifeĀ doesnāt quite explore the subject that it set out. We hear far more about Jonathanās experiences than we do about Vincentās which is a shame about Vincentās story of being accepted as a gay doctor is a more interesting hook. Jonathan is a little dramatic to put it nicely and at times the documentary feels held up by his commentary
Extras on the disc include a directorās commentary, deleted scenes, āShameless Self Promotionā videos and a trailers.
The Doctorās WifeĀ sadly isnāt the documentary we were expecting to watch. Whilst we admit it was a brave decision for the couple to move to a rural part of Australia itās hardly the ābrave and heroicā journey that Jonathan labels it as in the opening minutes. Every gay man and women has had to deal with homophobia within society regardless of where they live and many have a much tougher time than this couple do in the documentary.Ā The Doctorās WifeĀ is at times entertaining but thatās more because of Jonathanās dramatic personality rather than the story itās telling.