An Ideal Husband

Released 1999
Stars Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, John Wood, Lindsay Duncan, Peter Vaughan
Directed by Oliver Parker

An Ideal Husband is a delightful parfait - an irresistible concoction of brilliant dialogue, sumptuous set design, top-notch acting, and a plot littered with Machiavellian twists. It's an exquisitely crafted movie that can be appreciated from start to finish. Writer/director Oliver Parker has taken Oscar Wilde's play and tweaked it in such a way that the playwright's best lines remain intact while the setting has been opened up to offer a fresh perspective.

The film begins by taking us to England at the end of the 19th century. There, we are introduced to Lord Arthur Goring [who] is described by friends as "the idlest man in London". Lord Goring's closest friends are Sir Robert Chiltern and his wife, Lady Gertrude. Robert is an upright man of impeccable reputation and his wife, an independent-minded woman, is devoted to him. Several days before Robert is to speak before Parliament to denounce potential British support for an act to cut a canal through Argentina, he is approached by the devious Mrs. Laura Cheveley, who has just returned to London from Vienna. She offers him money to support the canal, and when he refuses, she comments that every man has his price. Her next action is to blackmail him - unless he capitulates, she will ruin his career and wreck his marriage by revealing the secret of how he acquired his wealth.

Summary by James Berardinelli