An Ideal Husband

by Pat Holmes

t isn't the consummate version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play, but director Oliver Parker's adaptation of An Ideal Husband perfectly casts Rupert Everett as Lord Arthur Goring, an impeccably droll and charming London bachelor who has raised self-absorption to an art form. Goring, who says "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance," is his own masterpiece. But when he finds himself in the midst of a scandal in the making involving his best friend, the promising politician Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam), Goring proves himself as admirably loyal and wise as he claims to be proudly one- dimensional.

Everett slips into the role as elegantly as Goring does into his formal wear (his hair alone is a gleaming construct of such rakishly angular perfection that you suspect it must be be a digital effect), and he becomes the dazzling centerpiece of a sparkling ensemble. Northam, who also shines in the current The Winslow Boy, finds the core of flawed decency in Chiltern while Cate Blanchett as his wife illuminates this virtuous woman's discovery that her own unwillingness to accept the simple humanity of her husband is a greater flaw than his own frailty. Julianne Moore offers beguiling, stiletto-edged wiles as the conniving Mrs. Cheveley, who sets the potential destruction of Sir Robert in motion. Even Minnie Driver holds her own in this estimable company as Mabel Chiltern, Sir Robert's sister, as she subtly assaults Lord Goring's determined bachelorhood.

Director Parker's script adaptation does nicely by Wilde. His direction is just a touch less convincing, and nonetheless a marked improvement over his last job -- a smothering, murky version of Othello with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh shot almost entirely in closeup. There's more room to move here, enough to keep him out of the way of the play and the cast's nimble progress and also to remain free of any self-conscious stylistic embellishments. Self-consciousness is Lord Goring's department, and Wilde child Everett handles it with an effortless mastery that even a more seasoned directorial hand than Parker's would be hard-pressed to equal. The airy lilt that Parker needs is provided, however, by composer Charlie Mole, whose score breezes gracefully through the proceedings, ensuring that no dust settles on a period piece that proves to be satisfyingly light and edifyingly modern—or satisfyingly modern and edifyingly light.

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