***
Running time: 97 mins
In stores: Today
Review: Ewan McDonald
Oscar Wilde's play tells of Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) MP, who has been an honest politician all his career - except at the start, when he sold some secret information to a big-business baron.
Sir Robert is adored by his wife (Cate
Blanchett), whose morals would not permit her to remain married to a cheat and liar. Enter an old friend of theirs: Mrs Cheveley (Julianne Moore), who was once married to the baron and has a letter outlining the deal. She blackmails Chiltern: either he changes his position on an upcoming report, protecting her investments, or she will reveal all.
Chiltern approaches his best friend, Lord Goring (Rupert Everett), a rich and idle bachelor, begging him to prepare Lady Chiltern for bad news. Of course, romance appears: Goring falls in love with Chiltern's sister Mabel (Minnie Driver), and Mrs Cheveley decides Goring would make a splendid third husband.
If that sounds complicated ... well, it is, but this turn-of-the-century sitcom is full of Wilde's "slow-motion serious screwball comedy" (as one critic put it) and savage one-liners; plus a marvellous performances from Everett as a charming liar and schemer.
