Wilde - O Primeiro Homem Moderno

Stephen Fry is well cast as the 19th-century Irish author/playwright Oscar Wilde. This biopic deals frankly with his homosexuality and torment of being attracted to young men. Married with children, Wilde entered a passionate love affair with Lord 'Bosie' Douglas(Jude Law)the son of the Marquess of Queensberry(Tom Wilkinson). The affair led to a celebrated trial and two year prison sentence for outraging the decency of a stoic Victorian society. At times this film seems to drag, but is punctuated with the vivid homosexual love scenes. Supporting cast includes:Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Sheen and Jennifer Ehle.

This film biography of Oscar Wilde is a showcase for Stephen Fry. He not only looks like Wilde, he breaths life into the many passages from Wilde's writings that are woven into the screenplay. The difference between reading Wilde and experiencing Fry's performance is like reading Shakespeare and seeing Olivier perform. An evening listening to Fry read from Wilde's works would be worth paying a tidy sum to attend.

I had no idea that Wilde had married young to Constance Lloyd (Jennifer Ehle in a fine performance) and had two adorable boys by her. In an effective plot device, periodically throughout the movie Wilde reads to his sons from his children's story, "The Selfish Giant." The readings are presented in a way that cleverly integrates the storyline of the writing with the storyline of the movie, with Wilde being the selfish giant. And how many people know that Wilde wrote children's stories?

There are many examples given of Wilde's biting wit, such as, "Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth," "The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast," and "I find that alcohol, taken in sufficient quantities, can bring about all the effects of drunkenness." Fry delivers these with perfect tone.

Of course a good part of the movie is devoted to Wilde's arrest and ultimate imprisonment for "indecent acts" with Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law). Wilde truly did live his life in accordance with his comment, "Where your life leads you, you must go. I defy society." As presented here, Wilde is a courageous and sensitive man who was forced into a tragedy by the strictures of a hidebound society. In current America most would judge his infractions with mild distaste at worst.

There are some disconcerting transitions, mostly in scenes with Lord Douglas. Douglas is seen to have a volatile personality. He could be needy and tender, but he could also be a first-class ass and manipulator with an explosive temper. His fits of anger seemed exaggerated and disrupted the tone of the movie. I had a similar reaction to the sex scenes in terms of disrupting the flow. Robbie's initial advances were abrupt and without foundation. The explicit sex scenes between Wilde and Lord Douglas would have been better hinted at than seen - their kisses and embraces could well be imagined but they felt incongruous and unbelievable in the flesh.

Wilde was much more than a wit. He could express emotions with eloquence. Consider this quote about encountering a previous lover after a hiatus of a few years:

"Life cheats us with shadows. We ask it for pleasure, it gives it to us with bitterness and disappointment in its train. And we find ourselves looking with dull heart of stone at the tresses of gold-flecked hair that we once had so wildly worshiped and so madly kissed."

The movie is nicely filmed with a good musical score. I wound up liking it more after having thought about it.

Watching this has expanded my appreciation for Wilde as a writer and as a person - I have been left wanting to know more about him and his work.

The mid-life years of (now genteel) decadent behavior by one of late Victorian England's celebrities, the Irish-born novelist-poet-playwright Oscar Wills Wilde (1854–1900). Director Brian Gilbert doesn't bandy about giving us the childhood torments of a literary genius; instead, he and screenwriter Julian Mitchell delve right into the more prominent chapters of Wilde's life, his marriage to a woman--producing two children--before realizing his homosexual desires, leading to some promiscuous indiscretions before finding love with churlish, childish poet Lord Alfred Douglas. Stephen Fry gives a masterful performance as Wilde, and the portrait allows for many shadings (this isn't a plea for the misunderstood gay artist, as Wilde himself is shown to be occasionally fickle, lusting, and selfish). Jude Law is equally good as ornery, demanding lover 'Bosie', whose tyrannical father brought about a court-case and two-year jail term for Wilde (covered previously in 1960's "The Man with the Green Carnation"), contributing to his early demise. A provoking, insightful, eloquent film--not at all stuffy or coy--which is due in large part to Gilbert's dexterous way with his actors and a keen sense of pacing and audience-involvement. *** from ****

I've seen Oscar Wilde portrayed on film before. I remember Robert Morley and also Peter Finch. They both provided inklings into the heart and mind of of one of the literary giants of the 19th Century. But one aspect of the tragedy, because, let's face it, it is a tragedy. His relationship with Alfred Douglas that in a very direct way, will mark his destiny. It was so difficult to believe that Peter Finch's Wilde will go to war for someone like John Frazer's Bosie. Good looking yes but devoid of the most important element, if you are going to believe in the power that Bosie had over Wilde. Finch and Frazer have the sexual chemistry of two slices of white bread but here, in this 1997 Wilde with Stephen Fry in the title role the mystery is revealed, Jude Law makes the whole thing totally believable. The desire he inspires we see in Oscar Wilde's eyes. Stephen Fry is another Humbert Humbert to Jude Law's Lolita. Amazing when the most incomprehensible action becomes totally understandable in the face of an actor. That alone, makes this Wilde my favorite.

"Wilde" is an elegant film with sterling performances by Fry, the title character, and a superb supporting cast. However, "Wilde" is also a shaded and skewed partial portrait of the 19th century playwright, poet, and master of the epigram. The film is not so much a biopic as it is a drama: A drama which spends too much time on the sensational aspects of the writer's life and not enough on his history, early life, idiosyncrasies, works, and last years. Nonetheless, "Wilde" is solid entertainment for anyone interested in Victorian period dramas or the man himself. (B+)