Good Woman - Ein Sommer in Amalfi

I thought I would treat myself to two Scarlett Johansson films this morning and I am glad that I did. As lovely as she was in Lost in Translation, she was dazzling in A Good Woman.

This film requires that you invest your full attention or you will miss most of the really great gems:

"I like America. Name me another society that's gone from barbarism to decadence without bothering to create a civilization in between."

"You're so fond of gossip you don't give the truth a chance to put its pants on."

"Every man is born truthful and every man dies a liar."

"Crying is the refuge of plain women. Pretty women go shopping."

Oh, there were so many many more. That was what was so great about this film - aside from staring at Scarlett, of course. I have always liked Helen Hunt, and she played magnificently here. I remember her fondly from "Mad About You." The only other movie I have seen her in was "As Good as it Gets," but I will be looking for "Bobby" to see her again.

I won't go into the details of the story as that would spoil it for you, suffice it to say that it makes for a very interesting background to this film about love and morals. It is sweet, funny, tender, and imminently fun.

While retaining her secret identity, the illustrious Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt) saves Lady Windemere (Johansson) from making a grand social faux-pas with the scoundrelly Lord Darlington (Moore).

My expectations were a bit low on this because I am still warming up to Helen Hunt. All those years of "Mad About You" never convinced me, but I am starting to have second thoughts. This film is a notch above her usual stuff.

Although I am not familiar with the Oscar Wilde play, I am quite pleased with this adaptation. It is moving, with decent twists and turns. There are also more than a handful of quotable lines, which I presume are Wilde's creations. They come across as timeless.

I almost knew nothing about the movie before I saw it (including that it was an adaption of an Oscar Wilde play), so I had no expectations at all. But I must say that I was pleasantly surprised!

It had a very good script with some fine dialogs. (Although I think the German synchronization didn't work out that well -I would like to see it again, in English). But let me tell you more what I thought about the movie:

The movie creates a superb atmosphere with it's grandiose costumes, the great scenery and really good cinematography. The story is quite simple and a bit predictable! But the actors are fun to watch at, especially Scarlett Johansson and Helen Hunt. They both really act well and look unbelievable!

I can only recommend this movie...

I watched this film at a preview in Somerset last week with nearly 400 other people and was very pleasantly surprised. I had read the few reviews on IMDb and was a little concerned that I might not like it. But have no fear - if you like films that have a good and witty screenplay, high production values, wonderful scenery, excellent actors, beautifully made costumes and a score that enhances every bit of enjoyment in the film - then this one is for you. There is undoubtedly a growing market for this type of intelligent and enjoyable film yet the reviews in the nationals can often put audiences off what they might well enjoy. The principal actors are good, particularly Helen Hunt and Tom Wilkinson, but they are more than well supported by some fine British character actors who are superb and totally convincing. And if you don't know Lady Windermere's Fan then your enjoyment will probably be even greater as it is an engrossing story.

Interesting movie! Probably to the contrary of many other viewers, I went to see this partly because I was intrigued by one of the supporting cast - Mark Umbers, a young British actor who plays Mr Robert Windermere. However, I was pleasantly surprised by all the cast. Tom Wilkinson is, as ever, a joy to watch - it's certainly impressive how he can persuasively portray both fantastically nice characters such as Tuppy, and also villains like Lord Queensberry in "Wilde". Helen Hunt was surprisingly beautiful as Mrs Erlynne, and a mention should go out to Stephen Campbell-Moore too. The locations were superb, the 30s vibe worked gratifyingly well, and in general I feel it did the Wilde original justice beautifully. Definitely recommendable.