Set in 1930, the story begins in New York where Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) is running out of suitors to pay her subsistence. Looking at a photograph in the newspaper, she packs up her few belongings, skips out on her healthy hotel bill, and makes her way to the shores of Italy. The photo that catches her attention were newlyweds Windermere, Robert (Mark Umbers, Brit, doing a good American accent) and Meg (Scarlett Johansson). What makes her think a 40-something woman of questionable repute can get this wealthy young man Robert Windermere to finance her stay there? Perhaps an unfailing attraction and blackmail??
Tom Wilkinson as another wealthy, older man called Tuppy, rounds out the love quadrangles. He of several failed marriages falls hopelessly in love with Mrs Erlynne, even though she wants nothing serious from him. In one telling scene, after he brought her home and was leaning in at least for a kiss goodnight, since she would have no part of his spending the night, she says "I detest tobacco." So he vows to quit, hands her is cigarette case, and leaves a "reformed man." As soon as he steps out, she takes out and lights up one of his cigarettes.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. The "secret" in this Wilde play turns out that Mrs Erlynne is actually Meg's mother, having abandoned her baby at the age of one, 20 years earlier. She was extorting money from Robert, to pay her rent, with a promise to keep quiet. But Meg found the cheek stubs of multiple payments, and assumed they were in an affair. The mother ends up reassuring Meg, without actually telling her who she was, and leaves town. Meg and Robert avert a marriage crisis, Mrs Erlynne gets to see her grown and happy daughter, and Meg gets some advice from mom without even knowing it. The title refers to a conversation at the end, where Robert tells Meg that Erlynne is "a good woman." Erlynne takes a plane away, finds that Tuppy is on the plane too, willing to go anywhere to be with her. It looks like they will be happy together.
Tom Wilkinson as another wealthy, older man called Tuppy, rounds out the love quadrangles. He of several failed marriages falls hopelessly in love with Mrs Erlynne, even though she wants nothing serious from him. In one telling scene, after he brought her home and was leaning in at least for a kiss goodnight, since she would have no part of his spending the night, she says "I detest tobacco." So he vows to quit, hands her is cigarette case, and leaves a "reformed man." As soon as he steps out, she takes out and lights up one of his cigarettes.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. The "secret" in this Wilde play turns out that Mrs Erlynne is actually Meg's mother, having abandoned her baby at the age of one, 20 years earlier. She was extorting money from Robert, to pay her rent, with a promise to keep quiet. But Meg found the cheek stubs of multiple payments, and assumed they were in an affair. The mother ends up reassuring Meg, without actually telling her who she was, and leaves town. Meg and Robert avert a marriage crisis, Mrs Erlynne gets to see her grown and happy daughter, and Meg gets some advice from mom without even knowing it. The title refers to a conversation at the end, where Robert tells Meg that Erlynne is "a good woman." Erlynne takes a plane away, finds that Tuppy is on the plane too, willing to go anywhere to be with her. It looks like they will be happy together.