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A Good Woman [2004]


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Maybe would have worked better as a TV series
Review date: 2007-10-19 Rating: 6 out of 10

I found this a bit of a "meh" film. Watchable enough, but nothing to really grab you. Fairly slow moving, and that's mostly because not really much happened.

In many ways it felt a bit like a TV drama, or soap even, where different characters' lives crossed paths with each other, and I was kind of left with a felling that if you'd got to know the characters a bit more, and spent a bit more time with them, then it may have been a bit better. So I feel it could have worked better as a TV series, broken down into several episodes, and extended to give more background and depth to the characters and story.

As it was, there wasn't really much depth to the characters, so I didn't really have any feelings for any of them, and most of them didn't really seem very believable. Whether this was just because there wasn't time in the film to develop the characters, or was actually due to a poor script or bad casting, is another matter. I think certainly in the case of Helen Hunt, it was was down to bad casting. Her character, as other reviewers have said, just wasn't believable. I just didn't buy into the idea of her being a serial seductress, wooing rich and handsome men around the world.

I found it perfectly enjoyable whilst watching it, but it didn't leave any lasting impression on me, and I'd not go out of my way to watch it again.

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Reviews


Helen Hunt strikes again!
Review date: 2007-02-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

Thoroughly enjoyed this film, although my Mother fell asleep! Perfect Sunday afternoon viewing for me. Good storyline, and not quite as predictable as some films, nice little twist to it. This is a must for romantics, but i'm not 100% sure if i am biased because I simply like Helen?? I haven't seen her in a bad film yet!


The miscasting is mightier than the engaging storyline
Review date: 2006-11-21 Rating: 6 out of 10

I really went back and forth with this film. In the end, though, I just couldn't get past the fact that even a good script based on the work of a literary genius like Oscar Wilde just can't overcome the deleterious effects of problematic acting. I can't bring myself to say bad acting because I think Scarlett Johansson is a very good actress and - while I don't really care for her - Helen Hunt is as well. Neither was very good in One Good Woman, however. The blame must really fall on the director and casting director, though, as neither actress really belonged in this film. Helen Hunt may well have tried too hard to fill the role of the adventuress, man-chasing Mrs. Erlynne, resulting in a slow and careful (sometimes stultifying) delivery of dialogue that gives rise to no feeling or charisma whatsoever. With very little charm at her disposal, it becomes difficult to believe that so many men fall so easily under her spell. As for Johansson, she seems totally out of her element here, clearly uncomfortable throughout many a scene. Fortunately, Tom Wilkinson and the fellows I affectionately call "the old geezers" come bearing the quick wit and natural bearing called for in this type of satirical treatment. That allows the script to shine in places, thereby saving the whole project from disaster.

Clearly, this film takes many a liberty with Oscar Wilde's classic drama Lady Windermere's Fan, yet it still wields quite an impressive sword of satirical wit here and there in the script. The story is basically an attack on the hypocrisies of gossip vis-à-vis high society, something Wilde knew quite a bit about. Lady Meg Windermere (Scarlett Johansson) is a young newlywed living in idyllic bliss with her husband Robert. Wealthy, attractive, and well-to-do, she thinks she has the perfect marriage to a man she trusts implicitly. Then Mrs. Erlynne shows up, having left New York rather hastily, courtesy of several wives anxious to see her depart from their husbands' lives. Mrs. Erlynne has always relied (and indeed prospered mightily) on the kindness of strange men, earning her quite a reputation in 1930s America and, rather quickly, Italy. She and Robert Windermere are soon the hot topic of local gossip, with nosy well-to-do women tracking their private meetings and going quite apoplectic about it to one another. When word finally filters down to her, Meg is quite stunned and contemplates some rather rash action of her own. Meanwhile, dear old Tuppy (Wilkinson), a man with his own share of past social indelicacies, quite falls for Mrs. Erlynne and proposes marriage - to the chagrin of all his marriage-hating buddies. These are the lovable "old geezers" I was talking about, and they constantly delight the viewer with short, stinging, and remarkably witty complaints about the institution of marriage.

I won't attempt to chronicle the shifting layers of this film, for the plot takes a number of delicious turns along the way. The plot's solid, as is the writing. Indeed, I would sometimes find myself pulled into the story rather engagingly, but the magic always departed once Hunt and/or Johansson turned up for a more serious scene. That proves to be too much for this film to overcome. Yes, it's always a treat to reexplore Victorian sensibilities (even if they're arbitrarily shifted to 1930s Italy), but A Good Woman never exhibits the first sign of life or energy, plodding its way through a story that could have and should have been much more enjoyable.

A good movie
Review date: 2006-08-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

The script is beautiful with lots of wit and eloquence that isn't seen very often in movies. The acting is fabulous and one can't help but get very attached to the characters. Plus the movie isn't without its twists which is a bonus.

Helen Hunt plays a lady who is hated by women and loved by men for the simple reason that she is an infamous mistress who lives off the money of her suitors. After the unhappy wives conspire to have her cut off from their husbands' purse strings she hatches a plan to travel to Amalfi and find new blood.
Meg (Scarlet Johansson) is married to a rich American, Robert, who ends up being blackmailed by Helen Hunt after he goes home with her one day. His friend John in the meanwhile has developed feelings for Meg and after hearing the gossip about Robert and his mistress decides that it is time to strike.

In addition to these characters are the numerous Americans on holiday in Italy who have nothing better to do than spy on others, gossip and party away thus ensuring there is never a dull moment in the little town on the Italian coast.

This is a must see movie and Helen Hunt shines in her lead role.


"It takes a lot of skill and practice to live without regrets,"
Review date: 2006-06-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

The lovely Mrs. Erlynne has a problem. Spurned by all the society ladies, for discreetly servicing their husbands, she can no longer afford to spend her days living in New York as the "woman of ill repute." Suddenly she finds herself an outcast and penniless, so she decides to travel to Amalfi Coast of Italy, where she hopes to squeeze some cash out of some fresh prey.

She sets herself on the young newlyweds Robert and Meg Windermere (Mark Umbers and Scarlett Johansson) and in the process; she hopes to find herself a new man. But Mrs. Erlynne also holds a secret, a secret that if made known, will threaten to destroy the young couple's marriage. Robert doesn't want his wife's peace disturbed and doesn't want her to know about the secret; yet Mrs. Erlynne takes advantage of the situation, after all, she desperately needs someone - preferably an aristocrat to keep her in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.

Neither Robert nor Mrs. Erlynne, however, have reckoned on the vituperative nature of the Italian aristocracy. Amalfi is a hotbed of idol gossip, with the elegantly rich entertaining themselves by spying on each other, soaking up all the scandal wherever they can find it. Almost instantly, conjecture becomes facts. Mr. Windermere's clandestine meetings with Mrs. Erlynne are quickly mistaken for a tawdry affair. The fire flares when Meg finds check stubs paid to Mrs. Erlynne in her husband's desk.

Word quickly gets around, especially with a woman such as Mrs. Erlynne and her past threatens to catch up with her The only person who doesn't judge her is the lovable and kindhearted - and very rich - Tuppy, a bachelor who yearns to marry his match. Meanwhile, the caddish Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) is courting the innocent Meg, and she's quite enamored of him.

Everyone is soon immersed in a maelstrom of illicit liaisons and racy sexual politics. Meg is convinced her new husband is having an affair, whilst Mrs. Ermine is fraught with confusion - a born outsider, marriage has never been for her, yet she's getting a little too old to be constantly branded as such a "loose" woman. In A Good Woman the wealthy are sarcastic, bitter, witty and conniving just as much as they are innocent, emotional, regretful and honest.

Based on Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, director Mike Barker does a fabulous job of drawing the Wilde social satire out of the drawing room, and opening up the play to Italy in the 1930's and incorporating some of the most beautiful and sparkling Riviera vistas as a backdrop, The production design is unsurpassed - the film is lush, exotic and absolutely gorgeous to watch, there's never a scene or an image wasted.

The acting is also strong. Hunt beautifully captures, Mrs. Erlynne's vulnerability and pain - she's a damaged and lonely woman, who obviously loves money and the sort of lifestyle it can bring, but she's also a realist and doesn't hesitate to play the shameless vamp with a knack for insinuating herself into the beds and checkbook registers of men who should know better.

Tom Wilkinson absolutely nails the very wealthy but lonely Tuppy with the required tragicomic pitch that brings forth a great deal of self-effacing charm. And of course the beautiful Scarlet is extremely good here and manages to seem naïve and vulnerable without tipping into melodramatics. Oscar Wilde liked men with a future and women with a past. In a Good Woman he wouldn't be disappointed, as the film is full of colorful and endlessly pithy types who seek to escape their past mistakes, yet seem to have a real love for life. Mike Leonard June 06.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Scarlett Johansson
Tom Wilkinson
Stephen Campbell Moore
Mark Umbers
Helen Hunt

Creators:
Helen Hunt (Primary Contributor)
Scarlett Johansson (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437890139
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2006-02-20
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 89 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2004
Language: English (Original Language)

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