Ein perfekter Ehemann (1999)

London 1895: Cabinet minister, Sir Chiltern, and bachelor, Lord Goring, are victims of scheming women.

Director:

Oliver Parker

Writers:

Oscar Wilde (play), Oliver Parker (screenplay)

Stars:

Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Peter Vaughan

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 4 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.

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Plot Keywords:

blackmail | 1890s | marriage proposal | reconciliation | political speech | 

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Taglines:

He just doesn't know it yet.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

0

Did You Know?

Trivia

The play attended by the characters in the movie is Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The tall, older man that addresses the audience from the stage at the end of the play represents Wilde who did in reality address the audience when his play first debuted.

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Goofs

Gertrude asks Lord Goring to accompany Mabel to the art exhibit, and then asks Mabel if she minds. When Mabel replies, you can see the reflection of Gertrude in the mirror behind Mabel. But you shouldn't be able to see Gertrude since she is seated during the entire scene.

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Quotes

Lord Arthur Goring: Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.

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Crazy Credits

The credits list Oliver Parker, the director, as playing "Bunbury", one of the gentlemen that is seen playing cards with Lord Goring in the Men's Club when Lord Chiltern arrives. Bunbury is also a never-seen character in "The Importance of Being Earnest", the play which is performed in the background of several scenes of this film.

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Connections

Version of Ideální manzel (2002)

User Reviews

Good, but it could have been great

If I weren't so lazy, I would have checked the original play to see if my favorite line from the movie was in it:

Goring's father: I use nothing but my common sense. Goring: So my mother tells me.

Even if was concocted for the film, that line still contains the essence of Wilde and the essence of all modern British humor, for which, I should say, I'm a major sucker. While watching An Ideal Husband, I didn't object to the lack of suspense as long as Rupert Everett was working his way around those Wilde lines, which he does as well as anyone I've ever heard.

I used to think Stephen Fry was Wilde on earth, but Fry is something wonderfully different -- Everett is Wilde on earth, or at least the actor that Wilde should have had around to deliver those lines when he wrote them. I first saw Everett in The Madness of King George, for which he put on weight. Every review of that film mentioned this; I thought the attention excessive, but when I saw him lying shirtless in a sauna, I understood. The man is, shall we say, cut. I can only imagine the effect of that scene on straight women or gay men -- probably something akin to the effect Greta Scacchi's "I think we're alone now" smile at the end of The Coca-Cola Kid has on me.

An Ideal Husband is full of good performances, with one glaring exception: the usually great Julianne Moore. Her scenes are curiously leaden, and Parker -- whose fault this may be -- has the camera linger over her as though the exposure will convince us how evil she is. The one exception is her scene with Everett, which has a real "Will he sleep with the enemy?" tension. It may be that Moore was just outclassed by the Brits, who are born to this stuff.

Cate Blanchett, whom I've seen in three movies, two of which were British period pieces, continues to amaze me with her range.

The unsung hero of the movie is Jeremy Northam, who takes a thankless role -- the man in the play who isn't the Oscar Wilde figure -- and makes it emotionally compelling. He is responsible for the play's only real suspense and emotion, since the rest is word games, more or less.

All of which leads me to blame the production's shortcomings on its writer/director, Oliver Parker. He seems to have squandered an outstanding cast. The play's final scene is played as a series of French scenes -- a film term for a series of different scenes in the same location -- and this kills any momentum that scene might have had.

Three out of four stars, I say, which makes it better than 90% of the movies out there.

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States] Official site

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1999 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Ein perfekter Ehemann

Filming Locations:

Leavesden Studios, Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$192,802, 20 June 1999

Gross USA:

$18,542,974

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$18,542,974

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arts Council of England, Canal+, Fragile Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1