''An Ideal Husband'' is a 2000 film based on the 1895 play ''

An Ideal Husband ''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...

'' by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

Plot

While the film retains the premise of Wilde's play and much of the original dialogue, it updates the action to the present day. The external scenes of the film were shot at various locations in the English 'home counties', principally in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

Sir Robert Chiltern, a rich landowner, belongs to the English 'county set' and is a member of an (unnamed) local government authority somewhere north of London. Well-off and with a loving and trusting wife, his honour and very existence are threatened when Mrs. Laura Cheveley appears with evidence of a past misdeed of Sir Robert's. It transpires that Robert's wealth stems from

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...

concerning a proposed canal project at an unspecified location. She attempts to blackmail Sir Robert into supporting the project - in which she has invested heavily - and in desperation, Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer. Goring knows the lady from years before. After several varieties of machination, the story ends happily. Lord Goring marries Robert's sister Mabel, Mrs. Chevely is outsmarted, and Lady Chiltern retains her faith in her husband's honour and 'idealism'.

Cast

Trevyn McDowell South African born Trevyn McDowell is a former actress and a property developer, who has starred in films, television programmes, theatre and radio, predominantly in her adopted homeland of England. She appeared in the 1994 film '' Mary Shelle ...

– Lady Gertrude Chiltern * Jonathan Firth – Lord Arthur Goring * Sadie Frost – Mrs. Laura Cheveley * James Wilby – Sir Robert Chiltern * Robert Hardy – Lord Caversham * Prunella Scales – Lady Markby *

Helena Hughes Helena may refer to: People * Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * ...

– James the servant

References

External links

* 2000 films 2000 comedy films British comedy films British films based on plays Films based on works by Oscar Wilde 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{2000s-UK-comedy-film-stub