A Good Woman (2004)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Mike Barker

Writers (WGA):

Oscar Wilde (play)
Howard Himelstein (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Seduction. Sex. Scandal. She's the talk of the town.

Plot:

While retaining her secret identity, the illustrious Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt) saves Lady Windemere (Johansson) from making a grand social faux-pas with the scoundrelly Lord Darlington (Moore).

Plot Keywords:

1930s | Gossip | Binoculars | Yacht | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Helen Hunt	...	Mrs. Erlynne
Scarlett Johansson	...	Meg Windermere
Milena Vukotic	...	Contessa Lucchino
Stephen Campbell Moore	...	Lord Darlington
Mark Umbers	...	Robert Windemere
Roger Hammond	...	Cecil
John Standing	...	Dumby
Tom Wilkinson	...	Tuppy
Giorgia Massetti	...	Alessandra
Diana Hardcastle	...	Lady Plymdale
Shara Orano	...	Francesca
Jane How	...	Mrs. Stutfield
Bruce McGuire	...	Waiter Joe
Michael Stromme	...	Hotel Desk Clerk
Antonio Barbaro	...	Paulo

Also Known As:

Le seduttrici (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic material, sensuality and language.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Spain | Italy | UK | Luxembourg | USA

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:AL | Hong Kong:IIA | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | South Korea:12 | UK:PG | Australia:PG | USA:PG | Ireland:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Amalfi, Salerno, Campania, Italy

Company:

Meltemi Entertainment

Trivia:

Joseph Fiennes was originally offered the role of Lord Darlington, but turned it down to play Bassanio in Michael Radford's adaptation of The Merchant of Venice (2004).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Meg finds the check stubs for checks written to Mrs. Erlynne, all of the check stubs have the same check number on them. They should be sequential.

Quotes:

Lord Darlington: I like America. Name me another society that's gone from barbarism to decadence without bothering to create a civilization in between.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Soundtrack:

A Te, O Cara Amor Talora

About a good Woman

I thought this was one of the best adaptations of a play to cinema. The way you are lured to believe throughout the first half of the picture the great deception on which Wilde first built his plot,which is the role of a woman of ill-repute portrayed by Helen Hunt, and her connection with Mr. Windermere, I find it to be a stroke of genius of both the original writer as well as the script's writer and the director. I suppose this is a great tribute Barker is making to Wilde himself, and to the theater that gave Wilde his fame and reputation. It all seems to me like a theatrical movie with great photography and music, but a play never the less. The actor's lines are of the highest quality a viewer can ever hope to listen, and the humor is so fluent you can glide trough the whole picture on a single laugh, apart from the more philosophical contents near the end, where you are struck by the conversion of that «evil» woman into a really good one. Truly great!!