Wilde [Blu-ray]

Director: Brian Gilbert Brian Gilbert

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	06/14/2022
UPC:	0043396576032
Original Release:	1997
Rating:	R
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:57:00
Sales rank:	26,345

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Stephen Fry	Oscar Wilde
Jude Law	Lord Alfred Douglas
Vanessa Redgrave	Speranza
Jennifer Ehle	Constance
Tom Wilkinson	Marquess of Queensberry
Gemma Jones	Lady Queensberry
Judy Parfitt	Lady Mount-Temple
Zoe Wanamaker	Ada
Michael Sheen	Robert Ross
Ioan Gruffudd	John Gray
Matthew Mills	Lionel Johnson
Jason Morell	Ernest Dowson
Peter Barkworth	Charles Gill
Robert Lang	C.O. Humphreys
Philip Locke	Judge
David Westhead	Edward Carson
Jack Knight	Cyril Wilde
Jackson Leach	Cyril Wilde (age 4)
Laurence Owen	Vyvyan Wilde
Benedict Sandiford	Alfred Wood
Mark Letheren	Charles Parker
Michael Fitzgerald	Alfred Taylor
Orlando Bloom	Rentboy
Bob Sessions	Mine Owner
Adam Garcia	Jones
Joseph May	First Miner
Jamie Leene	Second Friend
James D'Arcy	First Friend
Orlando Wells	Undergraduate
Robin Kermode	George Alexander
Avril Elgar	Lady Bracknell
Jean Ainslie	Miss Prism
Andrew Havill	Algernon
Biddy Hodson	Gwendolen
Judi Maynard	Mrs. Allonby
Hugh Munro	Chasuble
Michael Simkins	Lord Illingworth

Technical Credits

Julian Mitchell

Brian Gilbert	Director
Julian Mitchell	Screenwriter
Sarah Bird	Casting
Alex Graham	Executive Producer
Bob Hollow	Special Effects
Alan Howden	Executive Producer
Deborah Raffin	Executive Producer
Marc Samuelson	Producer,Producer
Michael Viner	Executive Producer
Michiyo Yoshizaki	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Instead of focusing on Oscar Wilde's career accomplishments, Brian Gilbert's Wilde largely concerns itself with the tragic relationship with Douglas, or Bosie, as he was called. Great pains are taken to record Wilde's downfall, catalyzed by scandalous sodomy charges brought against him by Bosie's father, the loathsome Marquess of Queensberry (Tom Wilkinson). By focusing on Wilde's trial and imprisonment, the film makes him out to be more of a gay martyr than a brilliant wit and playwright. This approach results in a somewhat incomplete portrayal, but Wilde is inarguably well served by Stephen Fry's characterization. Hulking, refined, and bearing more than a passing resemblance to the character he inhabits, Fry gives a performance marked by wit, passion, and surpassing dignity.

All Movie Guide

[Stephen] 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