Wilde (film)

Wilde is a 1997 British biographical romantic drama film directed by Brian Gilbert. The screenplay, written by Julian Mitchell, is based on Richard Ellmann's 1987 biography of Oscar Wilde. The film chronicles the turmoil in Wilde's life after he discovers his homosexuality. It stars Stephen Fry in the title role, with Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker, and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.

Wilde
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrian Gilbert
Screenplay byJulian Mitchell
Based onOscar Wilde
by Richard Ellmann
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMartin Fuhrer
Edited byMichael Bradsell
Music byDebbie Wiseman
Production
companies
Distributed byPolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Release dates
  • 1 September 1997 (1997-09-01) (Venice)
  • 17 October 1997 (1997-10-17) (United Kingdom)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£5.6 million[1]‬

The film premiered at the 54th Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 1997, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 17 October 1997, by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. It was praised for the performances of the cast, particularly that of Fry, who received critical acclaim and a Best Actor nomination at the 56th Golden Globe Awards. Ehle and Wanamaker were both nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 51st British Academy Film Awards.

Plot

The film opens with Oscar Wilde's 1882 visit to Leadville, Colorado during his lecture tour of the United States. Despite his flamboyant personality and urbane wit, he proves to be a success with the local silver miners as he regales them with tales of Renaissance silversmith Benvenuto Cellini.

Wilde returns to London and weds Constance Lloyd. They have two sons in quick succession. While their second child is still an infant, the couple hosts a young Canadian named Robbie Ross, who seduces Wilde and helps him come to terms with his homosexuality. Ross' love for Wilde endures. On the opening night of his play Lady Windermere's Fan, Wilde is re-introduced to the dashingly handsome and foppish poet Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he had met briefly the year before. The two fall into a passionate and tempestuous relationship. The hedonistic Douglas is not content to remain monogamous and frequently engages in sexual activity with rent boys while his older lover plays the role of voyeur.

Douglas' father, the Marquess of Queensberry, a violent and cruel man, objects to his son's relationship with Wilde and demeans the playwright shortly after the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest. When Wilde sues the Marquess for criminal libel, his homosexuality is publicly exposed. He is eventually tried for gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour. Constance is advised by friends to go abroad and change her name to protect the children.

Prison life is grueling; the penal treadmill permanently wrecks Wilde's health. Bosie tells Robbie he will look after Wilde in some pleasant sunny place when he is released. Constance visits him in prison. She is sending Cyril to school in Germany, and she may need back surgery. He tells her he has always loved her, and that he did not know himself in the beginning. She tells him she does not want a divorce. The children love him and he is welcome to visit as long as he never sees Douglas again.

Loyal friend Ada Leverson meets Wilde when he is released from prison in May 1897, carrying the manuscript of De Profundis. He goes straight into exile, to continental Europe. He puts flowers on Constance's grave. Since she died (in April 1898) he is no longer allowed to see his children. He eventually meets with Douglas. A printed epilogue notes that they parted after three months and describes Wilde's death in Paris in November 1900 at age 46 and the fates of Bosie and Ross.

Portions of the beloved Wilde story The Selfish Giant are woven throughout the film, beginning when Wilde tells the story to his children, then as Constance reads the book to them and so on until Wilde almost finishes the story in a voice-over as the film nears its end.

Cast

Production

In a featurette on the film's DVD release, producer Marc Samuelson confesses casting Stephen Fry in the title role was both a blessing and a problem. Everyone agreed he was physically perfect for the part and more than capable of carrying it off, but the fact he was not a major presence in films made it difficult for them to obtain financing for the project.

In the DVD commentary, Fry, who is gay, admitted he was nervous about the love scenes with his heterosexual co-stars. He says Jude Law, Michael Sheen, and Ioan Gruffudd were quick to put him at ease. Orlando Bloom made his film debut in this film, with a brief appearance as a rentboy.

Scenes were filmed at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire; Lulworth Cove, Studland Bay, and Swanage Pier in Dorset; Houghton Lodge in Hampshire; Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire; Magdalen College in Oxford; Lincoln's Inn in Holborn and Somerset House in the Strand.

Brothers Marc and Peter Samuelson produced the film in association with Dove International, NDF International, Pony Canyon, Pandora Film, Capitol Films, and BBC Films.[2]

Release

Wilde had its world premiere at the 54th Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 1997, and was released in the United Kingdom by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment on 17 October 1997. In February 1998, it was announced that Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American distribution rights to the film, and set it for a 1 May 1998 release.[2]

Home media

Altitude Film Distribution released the film on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2015.[3] Sony Pictures later released it on Blu-ray in the United States on 14 June 2022.[4]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 50 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Wilde can't hope to communicate the entirety of its subject's fascinating life or outsize talent, but Stephen Fry's stellar performance offers abundant compensation."[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times called the film "a broad but effectively intimate portrait" and lauded Fry's performance, writing that he "looks uncannily like Wilde and presents a mixture of superciliousness and vulnerability. Though the film suffers a case of quip-lash thanks to its tireless Wildean witticisms, Mr. Fry's warmly sympathetic performance finds the gentleness beneath the wit." Maslin concluded her review by stating, "Wilde and Mr. Fry fare better at shaping an arch, vivid impersonation than in telling a cautionary tale."[7]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times opined that "Wilde has found a perfect Oscar in the formidably talented Stephen Fry, who brings an uncanny physical resemblance to the Victorian playwright along with a profound grasp of the great wit's psyche" and described the film as "a lustrous period piece with a high degree of authenticity in decor and costume." Thomas also stated, "A work of superior craftsmanship, Wilde moves quite briskly, and the idea of approaching an unconventional life with a traditional narrative style pays off."[8]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film "has the good fortune to star Stephen Fry, a British author, actor and comedian who looks a lot like Wilde and has many of the same attributes: He is very tall, he is somewhat plump, he is gay, he is funny and he makes his conversation into an art. That he is also a fine actor is important, because the film requires him to show many conflicting aspects of Wilde's life ... [He] brings a depth and gentleness to the role."[9]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "a sympathetic and, for the most part, nicely realized look into the private life of the flamboyant author" and commented, "Stephen Fry has the title role, and it's hard to imagine a more appropriate actor ... In the last third, the film derails somewhat by turning preachy ... While [it] captures its subject's singular charm, it ultimately doesn't do justice to his complexity."[10]

In the San Francisco Examiner, David Armstrong said the film "benefits from its lush period costumes and settings but gains even more from an accomplished cast of British film and stage actors ... Stephen Fry ... slips right under the skin of the title character [and] presents a multidimensional portrait of a complex man ... However, Wilde, like Wilde, is flawed. Gilbert's direction is sturdy but uninspired, and Ehle's part is underwritten. To her credit, Ehle movingly conveys the sad frustration that Wilde implanted in his lonely wife; but Ehle has to do the work, playing her feelings on her face, with little help from Julian Mitchell's screenplay."[11]

Derek Elley of Variety observed, "Brian Gilbert, till now only a journeyman director, brings to the picture most of the qualities that were memorably absent in his previous costumer, Tom & Viv – visual fluency, deep-seated emotion and first rate playing from his cast."[12]

In the Evening Standard, Alexander Walker called the film "an impressive and touching work of intelligence, compassion and tragic stature" and said Stephen Fry "returns to the top of the class with a dominating screen performance."[13]

In his review in Time Out New York, Andrew Johnston observed that "The first hour – filled with sharp humor and steamy gay sex – delivers a thoroughly modern portrait of Wilde, and Fry (who in costume bears an astonishing resemblance to the writer) plays him with a pitch-perfect combination of smugness and warmth."[14]

Box office

The film grossed over $2.15 million in North America.[15][16]

Accolades

See also
  • The Happy Prince a 2018 film that focuses on Wilde's life after his release from prison.

References
  1. ‪Walker, Alexander (2004). Icons in the Fire: The Decline and Fall of Almost Everybody in the British Film Industry 1984–2000. Orion Books. p. 276.
  2. Roman, Monica (12 February 1998). "Sony nabs 'Wilde' rights". Variety. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  3. "Wilde Blu-ray (United Kingdom)". Blu-ray. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  4. "Wilde Blu-ray (United States)". Blu-ray. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  5. "Wilde". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  6. "Wilde". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  7. Maslin, Janet (1 May 1998). "FILM REVIEW; Wilde's Antics: Victorians Were Only Half-Amused". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  8. Thomas, Kevin (1 May 1998). "Full-Blooded 'Wilde' Offers Definitive Portrait of Oscar". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  9. Ebert, Roger. (12 June 1998). Wilde :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews Archived 20 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  10. LaSalle, Mick. (8 May 1998). "The Importance of Being `Wilde'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  11. Armstrong, David. (8 May 1998)."A dandy of a film". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  12. Elley, Derek. (25–31 August 1997). "Wilde life makes for artful pic". Variety. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  13. Walker, Alexander. (23 October 1997). "Stephen Fry's Oscar winning performance". OscarWilde.com. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  14. Johnston, Andrew (7 May 1998). "Wilde". Time Out New York.
  15. "Wilde". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  16. "Wilde". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
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