A Good Woman (2004)

Director

• Mike Barker

Starring

• Scarlett Johansson
• Helen Hunt
• Tom Wilkinson
• Milena Vukotic
• Stephen Campbell Moore

Last On

14:05-15:30 Sat 18th Feb 2012 85m
BBC2

Synopsis

After the weighty English Civil War drama To Kill a King, director Mike Barker lets his hair down here with this light and sunny period romantic comedy. In a novel take on a classic Victorian play, Oscar Wilde's waspish morality tale Lady Windermere's Fan gets both a fresh 1930s setting and a significant US slant. Mark Umbers and a stilted Scarlett Johansson play American newlyweds Meg and Robert Windermere, who set society tongues wagging in a resort on Italy's beautiful Amalfi coast when Robert is spotted apparently becoming intimate with notorious New York gold-digger Mrs Erlynne (Helen Hunt). The intricate web of secrets and lies that emerges as the scandal spreads is a tad contrived but it's still a highly agreeable movie, thanks to delicious dialogue and some spirited performances. Though the focus is on the glamorous American leads, it's the British thespians who give life to this sophisticated film, with Tom Wilkinson's ageing millionaire bachelor enjoying the best lines.