An Ideal Husband **** (1999, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett, John Wood, Minnie Driver, Peter Vaughan) – Classic Movie Review 1160

Oscar Wilde’s witty satirical comedy play about a 1895 titled Englishman who rescues the career of a London diplomat threatened by a blackmailing old lover makes for a second very enjoyable and pretty special film here as An Ideal Husband in 1999.

It was previously filmed as An Ideal Husband in 1947 with Paulette Goddard, Hugh Williams and Michael Wilding.

Rupert Everett stars as philandering bachelor Viscount Arthur Goring, who sets about to try to save his friend, Government Cabinet minister Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam), a respected prominent politician, when he is blackmailed by the mysterious Mrs Cheveley (Julianne Moore) with damning evidence of a past misdemeanor. It is all the worse as Sir Robert is married to Lady Gertrude Chiltern (Cate Blanchett), a stiffly upright woman intolerant of the slightest character flaws.

Sir Robert is preparing to expose a financial scandal, but Mrs Cheveley has invested heavily in the shady venture and attempts to force him into giving a speech in Parliament that supports her interests.

Again, as in An Ideal Husband in 1947, it is an unexpectedly cast American star, this time Julianne Moore, who gives a bright account of Mrs Cheveley (though she is slightly struggling with her English accent), and Everett is absolutely perfect for a walk on the Wilde side, giving the film’s show-stopping turn and relishing Wilde’s witty lines. John Wood also offers an enormously entertaining portrayal of Everett’s dotty old Father, the Earl of Caversham.

The film is understandably stagy on screen but that is entirely fine, and it is still a literate, civilised and thoroughly entertaining movie experience. Writer-director Oliver Parker handles it all absolutely ideally.

Minnie Driver (as Sir Robert’s sister Mabel Chiltern), Peter Vaughan (as Phipps), Ben Pullen (as Tommy Trafford), Marsha Fitzalan (Countess), Lindsay Duncan (Lady Markby), Neville Phillips (Mason), Nickolas Grace (Vicounte de Nanjac) and Simon Russell Beale (Sir Edward) are also in the distinguished cast, along with Anna Patrick, Delia Lindsay, Denise Stephenson, Charles Edwards, Nancy Carroll, Andy Harrison, Jill Balcon (as Lady Bracknell), Janet Henfrey, Toby Robertson, Michael Culkin, Doug Bradley, Stephen May, Jeroen Krabbé, Susannah Wise, Oliver Ford Davies and Oliver Parker as Bunbury.

Julianne Moore stars in An Ideal Husband (1999).

It is the last film of the actress Jill Balcon (1925–2009), daughter of Sir Michael Balcon and mother of Daniel Day-Lewis, whose father Cecil Day-Lewis was a mystery novelist, script-writer and Poet Laureate. Such a talented family!

Oliver Parker went on to film Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Dorian Gray.

The play premiered on 3 January 1895 at the Haymarket Theatre, London, running for 124 performances. Oscar Wilde was arrested for ‘gross indecency’ (homosexuality) during the run and the actors testified as witnesses against him at his trial while the production continued and Wilde was stripped of his author credit.

RIP true British character actor Peter Vaughan (4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1160

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