An Ideal Husband (I) (1999)

Julianne Moore: Mrs Cheveley

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Quotes 

• Lord Arthur Goring : Mrs. Cheveley.

  Laura : Call me Laura.

  Lord Arthur Goring : I don't like that name.

  Laura : You used to adore it.

  Lord Arthur Goring : Yes, that is why.

• Laura : Wonderful woman, Lady Markby, isn't she? Talks more and says less than anybody I ever met.

• Sir Robert Chiltern : I will give you any sum of money you want.

  Laura : Even you are not rich enough to buy back your past. No man is.

• Lord Arthur Goring : My dear Mrs. Cheveley, I should make you a very bad husband.

  Laura : I don't mind bad husbands. I've had two. They amused me immensely.

• Laura : We were quite well suited, as I recall.

  Lord Arthur Goring : Well, you were poor, I was rich, it must have suited you very well. And then you met the Baron, who was even richer. And that suited you better.

  Laura : Have you forgiven me yet?

  Lord Arthur Goring : My dear woman, it's been so long, I'd all but forgotten you.

• Laura : Do you know, Gertrude, I don't mind your talking morality a bit. Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. You dislike me, I am quite aware of that, and I have always detested you.

• Lord Arthur Goring : I am glad you have called. I am going to give you some advice.

  Laura : Oh pray, don't. One should never give a woman something that she can't wear in the evening.

• Laura : Then I take it you reject my proposal?

  Lord Arthur Goring : I'm afraid I must. For you see, as tempting as it may be, in truth it's little more than blackmail.

  Laura : True.

• Laura : A rather charming little idea has come into my head, and now that I consider it, I find it to be a rather charming big idea.

• Laura : As a betting man, you must concede there is a certain thrill to it. Consider also how elegantly I've moved from proposal to proposition.

  Lord Arthur Goring : With hardly any loss of face. I'm most impressed, indeed.

• Laura : I want to talk to you about a great political and financial scheme, about this Argentine Canal Company, in fact.

  Sir Robert Chiltern : What a tedious, practical subject for you to talk about Mrs. Cheveley!

  Laura : Oh, I like tedious, practical subjects. What I don't like are tedious, practical people.

• Lady Markby : And you know, I can't help feeling that this disturbing new thing, this higher education of women, will deal a terrible blow to happy married life.

  Laura : The higher education of men is what I should like to see. Men need it so sadly.

  Lady Markby : They do, dear. But I'm afraid such a scheme would be quite unpractical. I don't think man has much capacity for development. He has got as far as he can, and that is not far, is it?

• Laura : An acquaintance that begins with a compliment is sure to develop into a real friendship.

• Sir Robert Chiltern : My God! What brought you into my life?

  Laura : Circumstances. At some point, we all have to pay for what we do. You have to pay now.

• Laura : And so, my dear Arthur, are you not just a little bit pleased to see me?

  Lord Arthur Goring : Oh, my dear woman, possibly even less than that.

  Laura : Should you wish to avoid me entirely, I am at Claridge's until Friday, when I shall return to Vienna.

• Laura : Are you still a bachelor?

  Lord Arthur Goring : Resolutely so.

• Sir Robert Chiltern : Did you know the Baron well?

  Laura : Intimately. Did you?

  Sir Robert Chiltern : At one time.

• Sir Robert Chiltern : This Argentine scheme is a commonplace Stock Exchange swindle.

  Laura : It is a speculation. A brilliant, daring speculation.

  Sir Robert Chiltern : Believe me, Mrs Cheveley, it is a swindle. Let us call things by their proper names. It makes matters simpler.

• Laura : Suppose I were to pay a visit to a newspaper office and give them this scandal and the proof of it. Think of their loathsome joy. Think of the delight they would have in tearing you down.

• Sir Robert Chiltern : It is infamous, what you propose. Infamous!

  Laura : Oh, no. It is the game of life, Sir Robert, as we all have to play it - sooner or later.

• Laura : You are a man of the world and you have your price, I suppose. Everybody has nowadays.

• Laura : Scandals used to lend charm or, at least, interest to a man. Nowadays they crush him. Yours is a very nasty scandal, Sir Robert. You would be hounded out of public life. You would disappear completely.

• Lord Arthur Goring : I'm afraid I really must go. I have an extremely pressing engagement.

  Laura : Really? Well, as you know, I hate to stand between a man and his affairs.

• Lord Arthur Goring : I see you are quite as willful as you used to be.

  Laura : Far more! I've greatly improved. I've had more experience.

  Lord Arthur Goring : Too much experience can be a very dangerous thing.

• Lady Markby : With regard to women, well, dear Gertrude, modern women understand everything, I'm told.

  Laura : Except their husbands. That is the one thing the modern woman never understands.

  Lady Markby : And a very good thing too, dear, I dare say. It might break up many a happy home if they did. Not yours, I need hardly say, Gertrude. You have married the perfect husband.

• Lord Arthur Goring : What is your price for it?

  Laura : My price. I've arrived at the romantic stage.

• Laura : I appear to have caused something of a commotion.

• Laura : For the privilege of being your wife, I am ready to sacrifice the greatest prize in my possession.

• Laura : We are creatures of compromise, you and I.

• Laura : You see, I'm not really quite as wicked as you suppose.

• Lord Arthur Goring : I'm sorry, but, I don't seem to be able to stop myself. And I'm going to tell you that love - about which, I admit, I know so little - love cannot be bought, it can only be given. And I sense it is not in my power to give to you, nor is it in yours, I suspect, at all.

  Laura : Dear boy, you underestimate us both.

  Lord Arthur Goring : To give - and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love. I fear, though, the notion is a stranger to us both. And yet, if we are honest, it is something we both long for. Something that it takes great courage to do. Yes, that is our *dark* secret. Your coming here tonight is the first whisper of it. And for that, I admire you.

• Laura : Goodbye, dear Lady Markby.

  Lady Markby : London will be the lesser for your leaving and sadly lacking in scandal.

• Laura : You've got a good man there, Gertrude. You should try to hold on to him.

  Gertrude : It occurs to me this whole business is really just about you and me.

• Lady Markby : I do hope we see you in the near future, Mrs Cheveley.

  Laura : So do I, but I fear, Lady Markby, that for me the future seems strangely uncertain.

  Lady Markby : And what of the present?