An Ideal Husband (1999)

Director:

Oliver Parker

Writers:

Oscar Wilde (play)
Oliver Parker (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

He just doesn't know it yet.

Plot:

Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is...

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Social Satire | Oscar Wilde | Remake | Upper Class

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 4 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Cate Blanchett	...	Lady Gertrude Chiltern
Minnie Driver	...	Miss Mabel Chiltern
Rupert Everett	...	Lord Arthur Goring
Julianne Moore	...	Mrs. Laura Cheveley
Jeremy Northam	...	Sir Robert Chiltern
John Wood	...	Lord Caversham
Peter Vaughan	...	Phipps
Ben Pullen	...	Tommy Trafford
Marsha Fitzalan	...	Countess
Lindsay Duncan	...	Lady Markby
Neville Phillips	...	Mason
Nickolas Grace	...	Vicomte de Nanjac
Simon Russell Beale	...	Sir Edward
Anna Patrick	...	Miss Danvers
Delia Lindsay	...	Lady Basildon

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief sensuality/nudity.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #36196) | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | New Zealand:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Trivia:

When guests are being announced at the political party in the beginning of the movie, the name "Lord Windemere" is called. "Lady Windermere's Fan" is the title of another popular Oscar Wilde play dealing with sullied reputations.

Goofs:

Continuity: Lord Goring's jacket is buttoned, then unbuttoned, then buttoned again as he explains Lady Chiltern's letter to Lord Chiltern, Mabel and Lady Chiltern herself near the end of the film.

Quotes:

Gertrude: Lord Goring, you are talking quite seriously.
Lord Arthur Goring: You must forgive me, Lady Chiltern. It won't occur again.
Gertrude: No, I like you to be serious.
[Enter Mabel]
Mabel: Gertrude, please don't say such a dreadful thing to Lord Goring. Seriousness would be very unbecoming to him. Good morning, Lord Goring. Pray be as trivial as you can.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.45)" (2005)

Wit, depth and beauty - Will Wilde follow Shakespeare to Hollywood?

As I left this movie, someone said "How nice to see an intelligent movie!"

The risk going in was that it would be ONLY an intelligent - or at least clever - piece, all period manners and costumes. In fact, with all the Oscar Wilde wit which sounds wonderfully fresh here, there are also rich moments of emotional depth throughout this amusing but also quite moving film.

One theme here - touching in hindsight - is how little it can take to destroy a reputation - Wilde was later to have some of the most painful possible firsthand experience of this. But the central question here, which anchors the humor and beauty that decorate it, is the cost of rigorous, even rigid, honesty. And the growth of the central characters on this point shines through, even through the dance of wit and farce.

Underpinning this is a surprising faith in human nobility, quite in contrast to the ironic persona Wilde maintained. It struck me while watching it both that Wilde had very French characteristics - a continental finesse, the love of repartee - and yet was profoundly an English writer by virtue of his faith in fair play and the bonds of (platonic) male friendship.

In fact, Lord Goring, whose world-weary ways make him something of a surrogate for Wilde, is a distant cousin to Sidney Carton in coming to the defense of a 'nobler' friend even at great (possible) sacrifice to himself. His very lack of seriousness is what makes his efforts on behalf of his friends so moving.

With this, the pure visual beauty of actors like Cate Blanchett and Rupert Everett, matched by sumptuous costumes and sets, adds a sensuous element which, in a lesser film, might have dominated the movie. They, with Minnie Driver in cheeky comic form and Julianne Moore sweetly evil and superbly English, make it a delight both to watch and to savor later as tart food for thought.