An Ideal Husband (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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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief sensuality/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rupert Everett starred in the film version of The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), the play they attended in the movie.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Gertrude: Yes, Arthur, it is Robert himself who wishes to retire from public life.
Lord Arthur Goring: Rather than risk losing your love, he would do anything. Has he not been punished enough?
Gertrude: We've both been punished. I set him up too high.
Lord Arthur Goring: Do not set him down now too low.

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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 BBC Play of the Month: An Ideal Husband (1969)

User Reviews

This isn't "Ideal"

`An Ideal Husband' Rupert Everett stars as Lord Arthur Goring, a bachelor who's ex-finance (Julianne Moore) comes strolling back into town with a secret. The secret threatens to expose Lord Goring's friend Sir Robert (Jeremy Northham) and his wife (Cate Blanchett). Set in 1894 London, and adapted from the stage play by Oscar Wilde, `Husband' is the latest costume drama where `scandal' and `society' are the buzzwords and tedium is the audience's reaction. Oliver Parker directed the 1995 Shakespeare flick `Othello' with a burning pace and a slick cast led by Laurence Fishburne. That film was deeply entertaining and showed that Parker was capable of making the most mundane work seem fresh again. With `Husband', Parker seems to have forgotten this gift. Relying on the lame drama, the film utterly fails whenever the actors get serious. These costume films are just all the same. The plots seem to bleed into each other, the actors all give the identical interpretations. I could easily predict how the score would sound, the lighting arranged, and each actor's enunciation. I am losing my patience for this genre (the recent mega-disappointment `The Winslow Boy') and I pray this well has run dry. I am so used to Rupert Everett's 3 week old kitten purr of a voice, I immediately thought he was all wrong for the part of a dashing leading man. Rupert is a very handsome guy, but his acting up to this film has left a lot to be desired. In `Husband', it takes time, but he soon becomes the film's saving grace. It's a funny performance stuffed with cynicism and wit. Julianne Moore equals Everett with style and venom. She's in the middle of a real career defining period(`Boogie Nights', `Cookie's Fortune'), and this film adds to the list of smashing performances. Minnie Driver and Cate Blanchett bring up the rear of actors here. Ms. Driver looks just about as animated as I've seen her, and Ms. Blanchett looks lovely beyond words. Both are given very little to do, thus a huge waste of talent occurs. That is tough to watch. `Ideal Husband' isn't my idea of a good time. The seniors in the audience that I watched it with disagreed. I feel very open minded to most intelligent films, I mean, come on, I'm never picky. It's just these repressed society-`they're just like us!'-corset and tea-'improper!' films have GOT TO GO. I can't handle another 45 minute subplot about spilled tea again. Don't we have a reserve of gay coming of age films ready to fill up the art houses? French films about the degradation of society? Anything, please.---------- 3

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [United States] Official site

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 June 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

An Ideal Husband

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