Wilde

Wilde (1997)
Directed by Brian Gilbert. Starring Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Michael Sheen, Vanessa Redgrave.

Consider this a follow-up to my review of Chaplin, as it was my experience with that film that inspired me to bring Wilde to the top of my Netflix queue. I have a longstanding love of Oscar Wilde due to his play The Importance of Being Earnest. (The 2002 film adaptation is hilarious, wild, and romantic, and a personal favorite). However, I knew very little about Wilde's life, other than the skeletal outline of facts: outrageous personality, homosexual, jailed. This, combined with my recent interest in the late 80s/early 90s sketch comedy show "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" made me very curious about this film for its performance by Stephen Fry.

Wilde's life is rather sad. Though he was quite a literary sensation in his own time (and is still beloved to this day), he was unable to hide his homosexuality, and was persecuted for it. It's somewhat a story of "wrong place, wrong time" -- both in the sense that the differences between that day and age and today are plain (heightened by the knowledge that Stephen Fry is himself gay), and in that Wilde seems to fall in love with the wrong man. His lover, "Bosie" -- played by Jude Law -- happens to have a bad relationship with his father, and Wilde gets dragged into, and down by, it.

I thought Stephen Fry was well-suited to this part. He completely looks like Wilde, and brings Wilde's spirit to life effortlessly. To be honest, his portrayal of Wilde was less eccentric than I imagined he would be, but that may be because I had an incorrect impression of Wilde based on just having read/watched Earnest. Fry does spend a great deal of the movie looking rather bemused or baffled -- having a somewhat permanent "deer in the headlights" expression, but he also brings the many layers of Wilde's emotions to the screen. Additionally, he has plenty of aptly placed quips that bring a certain expected quirk to his character. Overall, he carries out Wilde's story in way I'm not sure ANYONE else could have.

Like Chaplin, this is a well-done film that is entertaining and interesting. It is one that rings particularly true in today's political climate, though it is more than 10 years since Wilde was released, 20 years since the book this film was based on was written, and over 100 years since Wilde's life. I recommend this film heartily, for its compassionate portrayal of an important historical figure and its quality performance by the scrumptious Stephen Fry.