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Poster for Wilde

Wilde

Loved for being unique. Hated for being different.

1997 · 1h 58m · R Drama, History
Directed by Brian Gilbert

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Overview

Oscar Wilde is a married playwright who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas leads to a full-fledged romance. However, this affair leads to a legal dispute with Lord Alfred's oppressive father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and, given the local anti-gay laws, Wilde is jailed. Wilde's vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
72%
Tomatometer
Fresh

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.

Derek Elley, Variety
Fresh

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.

Stephen Garrett, Time Out
Fresh

Likely to remain the definitive screen treatment of Oscar Wilde for years to come.

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Rotten

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.

Carol Lloyd, Salon.com
Fresh

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.

Janet Maslin, New York Times

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