Literary genius, legendary wit, bon vivant, and gay martyr, Oscar Wilde was a man whose legend has grown to iconic proportions since his death at the beginning of the 20th century. Establishing Wilde (Stephen Fry) as a loving family man, complete with a wife (Jennifer Ehle) and two adorable sons, the film takes pains to portray him as a dignified genius who was as pained by what he considered his own sin -- his homosexuality -- as he was delighted by the sins of others. From his initial
encounters with Robbie Ross (Michael Sheen), his first male lover, through his tragic affair with the beautiful and bratty Alfred Lord Douglas (a perfectly cast Jude Law), Wilde is seen as a conflicted fellow, warring with his own urges even as he dazzles everyone around him. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
A tony biopic that manages to combine an upfront portrayal of the scribe's gayness with an often moving examination of his broader emotions and artistic ideals.
The closest thing the movie has to a point of view is a tendentious and mystifying voice-over, in which Fry reads excerpts from Wilde's fairy tale about a selfish giant who banishes his children from his garden.
Mr. Fry's warmly sympathetic performance finds the gentleness beneath the wit. He conveys the sense of a man at the mercy of forces he cannot control, not least of them his own brittle genius.
Stephen Fry brings a depth and gentleness to the role that says what can be said about Oscar Wilde: that he was a funny and gifted idealist in a society that valued hypocrisy above honesty.
Bosie is one of history's legendary bad boyfriends, and Jude Law plays him to the hilt. He's spoiled and angry, flies into bug-eyed rages and seems bent on destroying Wilde and his work.
If anybody was born to play Oscar Wilde, it must have been Stephen Fry: not only does he look like the Green Carnation Man, but he himself is often portrayed as being too clever, too complex for his own good.
There's never been a better story about the misadventures of one of the world's greatest writer. Fry should have been Oscar nominated, and Law is equally electrifying.
Julian Mitchell's script freely doles out all kinds of pithy, self-conscious bon mots among its cast, but doesn't bother to flesh out convincingly the emotional conflicts and dramas in which the characters find themselves.
Call it "The Picture of Oscar Gray" or "The Importance of Being Overly Earnest." Somberness aside, "Wilde" is still worth placing a green carnation in your lapel for and scampering off to see.
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