Archive of films Good Woman / A Good Woman

Spain / Italy / Luxembourg / United Kingdom / USA
2004, 93 min

Section: Focus on British Film (2000-2005)
Year: 2006

An attractive, sunny and witty adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan about a community of Englishmen and Americans living in Amalfi on the Italian coast during the 1930s. The film offers a surprising take on the trusted classic and reaps the benefits of a wonderful cast, which includes Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson.

Synopsis

Recent film adaptations of Oscar Wilde plays – An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest – remained faithful to the original period and English setting, but here director Mike Barker and scriptwriter Howard Himelstein savvily transpose Lady Windermere’s Fan to a community of British and American expatriates living on the Italian Amalfi coast in the 1930s. Young Lady Windermere (Scarlett Johansson) suspects her husband of having an affair with scandal-tainted newcomer Mrs Erlynne (Helen Hunt) and is on the verge of throwing away her own life and reputation by submitting to the advances of Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore). But the mysterious Mrs Erlynne has good reason to save her from folly. This attractive, sunny, witty drama provides an intriguing twist on the Wilde classic, and benefits from a strong cast, also including Tom Wilkinson and Milena Vukotić.

About the director

Mike Barker (b. 1965, Cambridgeshire) left school at 16, and worked as an unpaid camera assistant to cinematographer Mike Southon. His directing career began with TV documentaries such as 1992’s Eddie and The East Coast Bouffants. He made his feature-film debut with crime caper The James Gang, starring John Hannah and Toni Collette, which won him the attention of Hollywood: his next film, Twentieth Century Fox thriller Best Laid Plans, starred Alessandro Nivola and Reese Witherspoon. He returned to the UK to make To Kill a King, about the execution of English monarch Charles I, starring Dougray Scott, Tim Roth and Rupert Everett. Barker followed A Good Woman (2004) with kidnap drama Butterfly On a Wheel, starring Pierce Brosnan.

Contacts

Blue Sky Film Distribution, a.s.
Sněmovní 9, 118 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 222 398
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.bluesky.pro

Beyond Films
22 Newman Street, W1T 1PH, London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 636 9613
Fax: +44 207 636 9614
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.beyond.com.au

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Focus on British Film (2000-2005)

Director:	Mike Barker
Screenplay:	Howard Himelstein podle stejnojmenné divadelní hry Oscara Wilda / based on the play Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
Dir. of Photography:	Ben Seresin
Music:	Richard G. Mitchell
Editor:	Neil Farrell
Producer:	Liam Badger, Kim Barnes
Production:	Meltemi Entertainment, Thema Production
Cast:	Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Milena Vukotić, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Mark Umbers
Contact:	Blue Sky Film Distribution, a.s., Beyond Films
Distributor:	Blue Sky Film Distribution, a.s.

Guests

Geraldine Higgins

Milan Dostál

Distributor, Service Company Rep.

Richard Signeski

Buyer, Buyer

Milena Vukotic

Actress

Tom Wilkinson

Actor, Actor