A Good Woman 迷失女人心

2004年的電影, 改編自愛爾蘭劇作家/作家/詩人Oscar Wilde(1854-1900) 的話劇Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), 有影評批評電影名字改得差: You know you're in trouble when someone adapts Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan and changes the title to something totally forgettable. ~Jeffrey M. Anderson (Combustible Celluloid/www.rottentomatoes.com). 但"A Good Woman"雖然是一個看似十分普通的名字, 卻清楚帶出女主角Mrs. Erlynne(Helen Hunt飾)在故事中的角色及電影的主旨.

這個看來一點也不"good"的女人, 是眾所周知的男人玩物, 與不少名流太太的丈夫都有染, 許多人都視她作妓女一般, 認為她不知羞恥. 故事背景是三十年代, 她為了逃避債項, 從美國紐約老遠跑去巴黎, 一抵步, 又重施故技, 令一眾上流社會的女人說三道四.

Scarlett Johansson飾演Meg Windermere這個角色, 正是Wilde一劇中的Lady Windermere, 在電影中發揮不多, 都是Helen Hunt大展所長的機會. 有影評說: "As if Helen Hunt could ever steal a guy away from Scarlett Johansson" ~Willie Waffle (wafflemovies.com/rottentomatoes.com). 看了令我發笑, 但在電影中, Helen Hunt倒也有一點味道, 起碼比她在"As Good As It Gets"吸引, 或許電影刻意令Scarlett Johansson不太峰芒畢露, Helen Hunt被誤成功勾引Windermere的丈夫倒有點說服力.


不錯的劇本, 或許應歸功於Oscar Wilde. 電影說的是信任, 贖罪, 猜忌和男人與女人. 在Oscar Wilde筆下, 電影中有不少精彩的對白:

"A man who moralizes is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralizes is invariably plain."

"I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean."

"Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones."

"It takes a thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing."

"I prefer women with a past. They're always so damned amusing to talk to."

和我一起看影碟的是母親, 她也看得津津有味, 一齣十分適合母女一起看的電影.

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