An Ideal Husband

It is social season in Victorian London and high society is leaving their country houses for the city. At parliamentary sessions and balls, between financial discussions and string quartets, political agendas and private interests begin to merge. Amidst it all is Sir Robert Chiltern, Secretary of State at the Foreign Office – admired by many for his flawless career, idealized by his wife for his integrity. But the past catches up with this seemingly ideal man one evening at a lavish reception in his city mansion as a certain Mrs. Cheveley suddenly appears amongst the guests. With elegant determination she draws her host into a conversation about a dubious canal project in which she has invested and which she wants Chiltern to support politically. Her primary argument: a letter that reveals treason as the origin of his financial success. The blackmail forces the politician to choose between public ruin or breaking with his marriage and his principles – a decision he tries to fight off at all costs.
Elfriede Jelinek dresses Oscar Wilde's satirical social comedy in her own mercilessly harsh language full of exposing wordplay. She skillfully heightens the already unsettling topicality of the story about politics and morality, corruption and lobbying.