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an+ideal+husband | Year: 1999 Directed: - Oliver Parker Actors/Actresses: - Rupert Everett as Lord Goring - Cate Blanchett as Gertrude - Jeremy Notham as Robert - Julianne Moore Well Done, Oscar! Wit, style, and an understated sense of comedy make The Ideal Husband a film every library should include. Rupert Everett as Lord Goring is idle, rich, and devastatingly handsome -- and, he is single. Every woman in London should be lined up outside his door, but then, that would be a Hollywood movie instead of a perfect British comedy of errors. Oscar Wilde had no match when it came to writing drawing room comedy about the foibles of the class conscious Brits in the 19th century. This film gives a fine lesson of how comedy does not have to be falling down slapstick nor cretin teenage fart humor to be successful on screen. It is elegant and riotous. Jeremy Notham is Robert, an ambitious and rising politician with a secret in his past. Cate Blanchett as Gertrude, his Lady wife is above reproach with an inflexible sense of self-richousness of others. With Minnie Driver and American Julianne Moore superbly cast against type in the role of the the dubious Mrs. Cheevly, this cast perfectly translates Wilde's humor to screen. It is Rupert Everett however, who carries the film with a performance that should have won him more recognition than it did. Overall, The Ideal Husband is one of the best ensemble performances of the year. Visual settings convey the Victorian sensibility without squeeky clean idealism that plagues many of the Ivory/Merchant productions. I saw this film in the theater when it first opened and knew then it was going to be successful because it presented a story we all could identify with even after a century. Good writing never goes out of style. Great writing is forever. Well done, Oscar! Witty Dialogue, Great Acting Ensemble If you're as tired as I am with the Action/Special effects explosion in Hollywood, An Ideal Husband will prove to boost your low opinion of the film industry. Beautifully cast, written, and directed, it's no wonder why it's been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. The first of course, going to the actor, Rupert Everett. He delivers his lines with such an aire and grace of an English gentleman and takes such care to wrap each word in a delightful sarcastic tone-- which fits his character perfectly. Although he is, in some ways, considered a nasty man of arrogance, Everett's charm shines through and draws the viewer into his oh so romantic embrace. The rest of the cast is equally entertaining--mostly because they mesh so well together. The period costumes and cinematography are also important to note. The movement from scene to scene, the juxtaposition of the placement of the characters in the scenes are particularly amusing to watch. Enough is enough already. If you don't mind watching "period" films, this is a breath of fresh air to the genre. Charming film, beautifully filmed The publicity for this film led me to expect quite a different story -- one where Rupert Everett is chased by women intent on marriage. Ho-hum. The film is nothing like it. Jeremy Northam is a man who in youth committed an error of judgement, on which his success and fortune is now based. He is being called to task by Julianne Moore, who does a superb job as the self-serving blackmailer. Cate Blanchette as Northam's wife is forced to choose between her hard-nosed ethics and her love (and she is deeply in love with her husband, he with her, in the sort of charming relationship one rarely sees in a Hollywood production). Then Everett hovers about, a lazy, highly opinionated, and amusingly narcissistic man who finds himself the hero and in love, all in the course of just a few days of his life. A big about-face for a man who seemed so strongly focused on his playboyish, trivial but apparently satisfying lifestyle. Minnie Driver is his love interest, although their whole relationship develops from bickering, to revelation, to romance, right before our eyes. All five main characters are well balanced throughout the film, and all actors play their roles exceedingly well. The men are human, not superheros; the women are tough and intelligent. Emotions play along healthily in each scene, as the story progresses to the will-he, won't-he scene, then beyond to the repercussions and finally the ending, when everyone good-humoredly discovers and accepts that they are all only human. Lovely, entertaining film. Buy An Ideal Husband at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on An Ideal Husband Search with the Priority Search Engine on An Ideal Husband This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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