A Good Woman *** (2004, Helen Hunt, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Wilkinson, Scarlett Johansson) – Classic Movie Review 6058

Director Mike Barker’s fourth screen version of the 1892 classic play Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde is excellent and underrated, propelled by a superb performance by an ideally cast Helen Hunt as the infamous femme fatale Mrs Erlynne. Of the British team, Stephen Campbell Moore as Lord Darlington and Tom Wilkinson as Lord Augustus are impeccable. Scarlett Johansson is welcome but less well at home as wealthy Lord Windermere’s young wife, Meg Windermere.

The screenplay by Howard Himelstein is updated to 1930. Maybe they should not have semi-modernised Wilde’s story, but nevertheless it works quite nicely, with the glittering Wildean wit and style all present and correct.

It is a beautiful looking movie, irresistibly shot by cinematographer Ben Seresin on photogenic location in Italy at Amalfi, Atrani, Ravello, Sorrento, and Rome.

Also in the cast are Mark Umbers as Robert Windermere, Milena Vukotic as Contessa Lucchino, Roger Hammond as Cecil, John Standing as Dumby, Giorgia Massetti as Alessandra, Diana Hardcastle as Lady Plymdale, Shara Orano as Francesca and Jane How as Mrs Stutfield.

There are an incredible 22 credited producers – from Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Luxembourg. Alas, they probably did not get their money back. For, unsurprisingly, the Americans turned their backs on it, and it grossed only $238,609 in the US. Worse still, it did poorly on its home ground in the UK, taking only £130,193. But it did better in foreign markets, raising $6,639,233 for a total of $6,877,842.

It follows the 1916 silent film Lady Windermere’s Fan, Ernst Lubitsch’s 1925 version Lady Windermere’s Fan and Otto Preminger’s 1949 adaptation entitled The Fan.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6058

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