Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.
Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film 4 wins & 17 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
rotten:
[T]his Husband plods and ambles and bears the burden of a soundtrack that resembles a wimpy meditation tape.
– Edward Guthmann,
San Francisco Chronicle,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Wilde was always about lots more than witty repartee, and as sparkling as his play is as drawing-room comedy, it reveals his concern with the timeless values of unselfish love and forgiveness.
– Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb 2001
fresh:
Parker has made a sensible cinematic translation of Wilde's play, intercutting scenes which would have been played consecutively on the stage.
– Jeff Millar,
Houston Chronicle,
21 Jul 2005
fresh:
Smooth-flowing direction, a shrewdly pruned script and a top-flight ensemble cast that visibly relishes both the dialogue and one another's perfs make this a tony item for upscale, mature audiences.
– Derek Elley,
Variety,
19 Jun 2008
fresh:
An enjoyable, minor, lustrously shot revamping of Oscar Wilde's play about the perpetually interlocked manners of love and deception.