4) An Ideal Husband
We all know that Oscar Wilde is the undisputed King of Snark, but he’s also a lot more than that, as proven with the excellent An Ideal Husband, a story about politics, marriage, and scandal.
Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is an up and coming politician with a brilliant career and beautiful, adoring wife (Cate Blanchett). But darkness is coming in the form of Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore), who holds a letter that indicates some political indiscretions that could seriously damage Sir Robert’s career.
With the help of his foppish friend Lord Goring (Rupert Everett) (who’s also in love with Sir Robert’s sister Mabel), Sir Robert has to stop Mrs. Cheveley before she ruins his career, and marriage, forever.
An Ideal Husband is a remarkably faithful adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play, with excellent performances by a bevy of British character actors. The center, of course, is Rupert Everett’s Lord Goring. Oscar Wilde’s stand-in and a sharp commentator beneath his foppish exterior, he traverses the political and social world with deceptive ease, spouting bon mots at every step and proving to be a lot smarter than he appears. The film is one of the most enjoyable adaptations of Wilde you’re likely to come across.