After achieving artistic and critical success with his 1994 film, "Tom And Viv" (about T.S. Eliot), director Brian Gilbert decided to continue with literary giants as his subject matter in 1998's "Wilde." Based on Richard Ellman's acclaimed biography of novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde, this film is certain to open a few eyes with its portrayal of this gifted, but notoriously flamboyant man.
While I was familiar with Wilde's works, such as his famous play, "The Importance Of Being Earnest," I must honestly say I didn't know much about this man. Assuming the film to be at least partially accurate in its recounting of his career and life, evidently there was a great deal I didn't know. The biggest eye opener, for those not already familiar with the playwright's life, is that Wilde had a certain thing for young, "pretty" men and, when not sleeping with them, saw them as moldable objects he could form and tutor as he pleased.
That said, there are several rather graphic homosexual encounters that may be a bit much for many mainstream viewers, and it's surprising that Gilbert has taken this approach. Beyond the material's obvious exploitive nature, there's a very interesting and compelling story about an even more compelling man. The fact that those sex scenes are so vividly shown will no doubt raise many eyebrows and may cause some to vigorously oppose this film, all of which is too bad.
Although many will have moral and/or personal objections to the film's realistic portrayal of homosexual relationships, that material will cloud a decent and certainly interesting film buried underneath all of the hoopla. As in any film explicitly showing any sort of sexual relationships, there's usually no real reason to do so other than for the sensationalism. To be fair, I suppose it's possible that Gilbert could be trying to shock today's more forgiving mainstream viewers into feeling the way the late 19th century populace would have simply after hearing of such behavior.
While scandal will always sell more tickets than a story simply about a person's life, it would have been nice to see Gilbert pursue a more balanced approach to Wilde's life. Obviously, his sexual preferences led to his eventual downfall, but one can only imagine there was much more to this man than his bedroom behavior.
The attention paid to sex, love, and commitment, however, does allow us to focus in on that part of Wilde's shattered life. Not only do we see his homosexual flings and relationships, but also the toll his long absences took on his family that he apparently loved very much. Even so, and for whatever reasons the filmmakers' chose to focus so much time on Wilde's sexual life and preferences, I personally think it was the wrong decision, as it only hurts the film in the end.
Nevertheless, it's still quite an interesting story. Perhaps the first big celebrity scandal in history, the story predated Fatty Arbuckle, Marilyn Monroe, and of course O.J., although the press obviously didn't yield as much power back then, but the "facts" still got around. While the film effectively deals with scandal, sexual "witch hunts," gilt, repression and the like, its most impressive element is an outstanding performance from Stephen Fry (of the hit UK TV show, "Jives And Wooster") as the title character.
Fry portrays Wilde as an understated flamboyant type incapable of backing down from controversy that he's stirred up, as well as a man of great wit and learned intelligence. When several younger men try to blackmail Wilde with one of his previously written -- and potentially damaging love letters -- and claim they've been offered a high price for it, Wilde calmly tells them that they should take the money as even he's never been offered so much for so little prose. In another moment he claims, "I felt like the sorbet after a side of beef" as he refers to speaking in a theater the day after two men were hanged there.
Equipped with the best written dialogue in the film (from screenwriter Julian Mitchell and based on the earlier mentioned autobiography), Fry takes what he's given and delivers the best performance of his career at the time. A mixture of guilt, repression, understated arrogance and boatloads of charm, Fry is completely believable as the famed playwright and creates a complex and sympathetic character, no matter how you feel about his sexual preferences. After seeing this film, whenever you hear the name Oscar Wilde, you'll immediately visualize Stephen Fry.
Other performances are quite good as well, with Jude Law ("Gattaca," "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil") standing out as Wilde's spoiled and ravenous young lover. Although he isn't much of a likeable character, Law completely inhabits him and creates an interesting, fully developed fellow. Tom Wilkinson ("The Full Monty," "The Ghost And The Darkness"), as Bosie's tenaciously despicable father, also delivers a good, but certainly not likeable character. The rest of the supporting cast is admirable with Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave as Wilde's mother, Jennifer Ehle as his devoted, but heartsick wife, and Michael Sheen as Wilde's first male lover and lifelong defender and friend.
Beyond the film's explicit sexuality, there are a few other shortcomings that somewhat diminish the story's impact. The biggest concerns Wilde's sudden turn to homosexuality. While the film gives an early tease of this change -- Oscar fondly looks at a sweaty and shirtless silver mine worker while touring America -- his sudden encounter with Robbie is quite surprising. Although the younger man states that its time for Oscar to accept what he's been suppressing for so long, the scene is not only "shocking" for straight viewers, but it somewhat comes out of the blue for everyone. While not a horrible plot problem, it probably would have worked better had the filmmakers given us a little more foreshadowing, especially considering that up until that point Wilde seems happily married and has two kids.
The other somewhat unbelievable factor is that all of these well educated, attractive young men are attracted themselves to Wilde. While I'm no Brad Pitt myself, Stephen Fry isn't a person most would consider greatly attractive as an older man and thus there's the question of what these young men see in him. Although there's the factor of fame, Wilde is repeatedly shown to be near constantly broke and with an apparent plethora of other gay, young men around, it's not quite clear why they come to him.
Featuring a haunting score by composer Debbie Wiseman ("Tom And Viv"), "Wilde" is an always compelling and often sobering look at the life of a man challenged by the conventions of his time. Although Fry delivers a terrific performance, the film's blatantly vivid and realistic portrayal of homosexual encounters will probably turn off many mainstream viewers. That's too bad because the sexual material will thus overshadow the unique and interesting little film residing underneath all of it.
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