Plot Summary
Before the turn of the 20th Century, at a fashionable park outing, malicious Lady Markby reintroduces Mrs. Laura Cheveley to Lady Gertrude Chiltern, who both knew each other at school. Laura fishes for an invitation to meet Gertrude’s husband, Sir Robert Chiltern, but Gertrude does not extend an invitation until Lady Markby suggests bringing her to that evening’s ball, making refusal ungracious.
At the Chiltern’s lavish party, Laura tries to extort Sir Robert, a member of Parliament, into supporting a bill to provide government financing for what he considers to be a new fraudulent canal scheme. Laura has incriminating letters Robert wrote many years earlier that disclosed a cabinet secret--insider knowledge of the financing of the Suez Canal--to establish his fortune and career. He initially refuses but gives in to save his reputation. Before leaving the party, Laura tells Gertrude that her husband will support the canal scheme, which surprises the politician's wife. At the party, Laura reencounters Lord Arthur Goring, to whom she was engaged before her marriage, and is eager to reestablish a romantic relationship with him. Arthur reminds her that she ended their engagement to marry a richer man. Confronted by his wife about his change of position, Robert writes a letter to Laura, informing her that he will speak against the bill.
The next morning, Robert reveals Laura’s blackmail attempt to Arthur, who urges him to let his wife know about his own past indiscretion, even if it lowers her regard for her husband. Robert refuses to tell her the truth and asks Arthur to speak to Gertrude to soften the blow. Lady Markby brings Laura to tea at the Chilterns; after Lady Markby leaves, Gertrude asks Laura to leave her house and never return. Gertrude expresses that she has despised Laura since their school days and that a person who has performed a dishonorable act should be shunned. Laura retaliates by telling Gertrude how her husband made his fortune and that she will disclose his dishonesty if Robert does not support the canal bill. Robert overhears and orders Laura to leave. Repelled by his past behavior, Gertrude suggests he resign his position, and Robert says that no one could live up to the ideal image she had of him.
That evening, Gertrude sends an unsigned note to Arthur saying she will come to him and asking for his help. Before Gertrude’s arrival, Robert visits Arthur, asking for Arthur’s help. While Arthur is in the drawing room with Robert, the butler mixes up his instructions to admit discreetly only the “unnamed lady” and admits Laura, who arrives unexpectedly, instead of Gertrude, who is mistakenly turned away. When Robert discovers Laura in Arthur’s library, he accuses Robert of scheming with her and departs angrily.
Arthur attempts to seduce Laura, asking her to show her good faith by returning Robert’s letter. Laura makes a wager with Arthur. If Robert lives up to Arthur’s faith that Robert will not endorse the fraudulent scheme, she will return the incriminating letter to Arthur. If Robert endorses the scheme to save his reputation, Arthur will marry Laura. As she leaves, Laura steals Gertrude's note, planning to use it to make Robert believe that his wife is having an affair with Arthur.
That night, Laura, Gertrude, and Arthur watch in the House of Commons as Robert denounces the canal scheme. Laura returns the letter to Arthur but retains the letter from Gertrude that she stole from Arthur’s library, informing Arthur that she has it.
The next day, Arthur tells Gertrude of Laura's intention to destroy her marriage using the unsigned note. Robert arrives, and the impropriety of Gertrude having come to Arthur is cleared up to Gertrude’s relief. Arthur proposes to Robert’s sister, Mabel, but Robert refuses to give his permission, still believing that Arthur is involved with Laura. The confusion is explained away, and Arthur becomes engaged to Mabel. Now willing to give up his position in society and live a contented life with Gertrude, Robert is offered an important Cabinet position by Lord Caversham, Arthur's father. Arthur persuades a now less judgmental Gertrude to let her husband remain in public life.
Reception
The film received positive reviews from critics, including Roger Ebert, who awarded it 3 out of 4 stars. [5] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote the film is "an enjoyable, minor, lustrously shot revamping of Oscar Wilde’s play about the perpetually interlocked manners of love and deception…Everett gets all the good lines, but he’s daring enough to deliver them gently, with a knowing touch of rue." [6]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times also reviewed the film positively, writing, "If An Ideal Husband transports us back to a world that seems more refined than ours, it also flatters us, as Wilde flattered the play's fin de siècle audience, by arriving at a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face piece of wisdom that after all the preceding badinage may seem more profound than it really is. Hollywood couldn't come up with a tidier feel-good ending -- one that gets everybody off the hook -- than An Ideal Husband's concluding moral: Nobody's perfect." [7]
On Rotten Tomatoes, An Ideal Husband has an approval rating of 85% based on 67 critics’ reviews. [8] The site’s critics consensus reads, "Brevity is the soul of wit, eh? This adaptation gets to the nitty gritty of Wilde's stage piece and plays on eternal human foibles." [8]
Box office
The film grossed £2.9 million ($4.8 million) in the United Kingdom [9] and $18.5 million (£11.2 million) in the United States and Canada. [10]
