A Good Woman is a 2004 drama film directed by Mike Barker. The screenplay by Howard Himelstein is based on the 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde. It is the fourth screen version of the work, following a 1916 silent film using Wilde's original title, Ernst Lubitsch's 1925 version and Otto Preminger's 1949 adaptation entitled The Fan.
Set in 1930, the film opens in New York City, where femme fatale Mrs. Erlynne finds that she is no longer welcomed by either the high-ranking men she has seduced or the society wives she has betrayed. Selling her jewelry, she buys passage on a liner bound for Amalfi, Italy, where she apparently sets her sights on newlywed Robert Windermere. When his car frequently is seen parked outside her villa, local gossips become convinced the two are having an affair.
Robert's demure wife Meg remains oblivious to the stories about the two circulating throughout the town, but when she discovers her husband's cheque register with numerous stubs indicating payments to Erlynne, she suspects the worst. What she doesn't know is that Erlynne actually is her mother, who has been extorting payments from Robert in return for keeping her secret. She is consoled with the advice, "Plain women resort to crying; pretty women go shopping."
A good woman will make the difference
Between glory an defeat
Might be your sister, might be your mother
Might be the woman you sleep beside
Whos in your corner when theres no other
Cos shes a believer whose faith never dies
A good woman will be your anchor
When the storm is ragin so
When youve been drinkin your ship is sinkin
When the waves are climbin high
Shell be on deck, bailin water
Cos shes a believer in you
Whose faith never dies
A good woman will make the difference
Between failure an victory
She says youre a winner, night an day
Tellin the truth when your fear is tellin lies
Shes like a rainbow when skies are grey
Cos shes a believer whose faith never dies