An Ideal Husband

An Ideal Husband is a movie perhaps worth watching if you're prepared to suffer through its very real limitations. It's a cinematic adaptation of one of Oscar Wilde's plays -- Wikipedia informs me it was written when he was at the peak of his success, before he was arrested for public indecency. One might be tempted to read into it a pre-apologia for this arrest; but I'll skirt temptation, not knowing much about Wilde's actual biography.[TODO: make sure the semi-theory makes sense].

The apparent husband of discourse is a rich commoner who has risen from humble beginnings to a place of prominence in the House of Commons. He is happily married to a stern wife who idealizes her husband -- he seems to have a perfect life. However, a blackmailer appears upon the scene, threatening to reveal the secret origins of his fortune were he not to change his political position. This revelation would destroy his place in society, jeopardize his freedom, and worst of all, destroy the pedastal on which his wife views him.

Eventually a friend of the husband, an idle Lord Goring, is brought into the picture. The lord is a wit and a true friend, who thrusts himself into the picture and wagers his own life (well, hand in marriage) to defuse the blackmailer, in a literal gamble on whether the commoner values his current ideals over his ambitions and stature. And, at the end, the wife learns to be a little more forgiving.

There's a little bit of depth in the story, but not much ... it's a light comedy. Wilde certainly knew how to write those, but the movie makes the tremendous mistake of humanizing the characters. Dueling wits work really well in the movies (who hasn't dreamed of wordplay as fast and dynamic as in Sports Night or a coherent speech as in It's a Wonderful Life?) Dramas can have more realistic dialogue ... Veronica Mars or Buffy the Vampire Slayer got away with significant pauses and blurting out thoughts -- but the Wilde script doesn't survive. Inevitablyl,I was cringing when Lord Goring spoke, amazed at how clunky a Wilde wit could actually sound. it's the lesson action movies learned.. fast and furious lets people ignore the thin plot and necessary coincidences.

I don't really recommend the movie. It's not bad if you're looking for something fairly nonconfrontational,but in the end there's no real reason to seek it out or pay attention to it. Even for a light comedy, that's disappointing.