A Good Woman
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.78 You Save: $10.20 (68%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.49 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of A Good Woman
Movie Review: A Great Movie!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this movie. The actors are great. The plot is not predictible. A bit of a love story. The movie flows nicely. Super good and highly recommended. I would give it 15 stars if I could. One of my favorites.Movie Review: Loved it
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great movie. I liked it so much I ordered the dvd after renting it. Has a few good twist towards the end. I really enjoyed it.Movie Review: Superbly done.
Summary: 5 Stars
Good acting, witty dialogue, good social critique, superb directing. Had to watch it three times.Movie Review: (3.5 STARS) Decent Adaptaion of Oscar Wilde's 'Lady Windermere's Fan'
Summary: 4 Stars
The film is titled `A Good Woman,' but it is actually filmed version of Oscar Wilde play `Lady Windermere's Fan.' Wilde's original, which was put on stage in 1892 and became the first `hit' for Wilde, was set in the drawing room of end-of-the-century England, but `A Good Woman' shifted the background to the Amalfi coast (South Italy) in the 1930s. The director is Mike Barker from England (`To Kill a King'), but some of the main characters' roles are played by American actors.
Two women play the central roles in `A Good Woman.' One is Mrs. Erlynne, `a woman of experience' (Helen Hunt, cast against type) a seductive middle-aged woman from New York. Shunned by the aristocratic society, she still hopes to win the love of gentleman - a rich gentleman - and here in Italy, it seems, she has already attracted some of them. One of them is `Tuppy' (delightful Tom Wilkinson), who refuses to listen to the rumor about Erlynne.
The other woman is Lady Windermere, `a woman of innocence' (Scarlett Johansson), who is newly married, and devotes herself to her husband. After arriving at this beautiful Italian resort, however, her husband Lord Windermere (Mark Umbers) seems to have got nervous about something, some secret he knows, which lady's man Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) also happen to notice in his checkbook.
The film retains the basic storyline of Wilde's original. There is a twist (as in the original) which might or might not surprise you. All in all the filmed version is successful in maintaining our interest in the story, which gets melodramatic especially in the second half. The changed location is not a bad thing to me (the `stagy' films are not my cup of tea), but the changed times are a different matter. The 1930s is, I m afraid, too modern a period to make the rigid social conventions of late Victorian convincing. The first part of the film is, I think, considerably weakened by the changed situation and lengthy introduction.
Here is another complaint. As the film's title suggests, `A Good Woman' is more about the ladies than about the gentlemen. That is good. Consequently, however, unlike the original play two male roles Lord Darlington and Lord Windermere look less impressive than the ones you meet in the book. This is a problem because many of the witty lines of Wilde are uttered by Lord Darlington and his character as a flirt plays an important role in the second half of the play. He should be more attractive, hopefully devilishly charming.
You may object to the casting of Ms. Hunt and Ms. Johansson. I find Helen Hunt's lady Windermere sexually seductive enough, but not really seductive enough to make her look like a social climber. Not that her acting is bad, but you may name a name or two of someone who could play the same role as good as, or perhaps better than, Helen Hunt.
`A Good Woman' is easy on the eye with two beautiful leading ladies in gorgeous costumes, and fun to see with intelligent dialogues (and it is Oscar Wilde, the genius, so why not witty after all?) The original play's social satire is no longer compelling, now. But `A Good Woman' is light-hearted, maybe too light-hearted you might say, but is still sweet and pleasant.
Movie Review: One hanky, two thumbs
Summary: 4 Stars
Helen Hunt has a filmography with a wide span but is probably best remembered for the 'Miss Cutie Pie' roles she established in the television series "Mad About You" and the award-winning "As Good As It Gets". In this movie, based on Oscar Wilde's play "Lady Windermere's Fan", she impressed me the way a fine wine carefully aged to perfection might. Add to that Tom Wilkinson's best performance since "The Governess", good support from Scarlett Johansson, Stephen Campbell Moore, and Mark Umbers; and top it all off with costumes and sets which will transport one back to the 30s and there's the formula needed for a truly good movie. Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt) leads a rather dissolute life, is considered something of a jezebel by the members of high society, and she has a secret. When she finds she must quickly get out of New York she notices the Windemeres (Moore and Johansson) are vacationing in Italy and sees the handsome husband as a possible `easy mark'. You just know it's going to get `sticky' somewhere, somehow, but unless you've already seen Wilde's play you're going to be surprised--and delighted. Some of the minor supporting roles are just a tad overdone, but they are fortunately left behind when things start heating up, so think of them as comic relief and sit back and enjoy. And keep that hanky handy.