THE HAPPY PRINCE
Germany/UK/Luxenberg, 2018, 105 minutes, Colour.
Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Chancellor, Julian Wadham, Beatrice Dalle, Antonio Spagnuolo, John Standing, Ronald Pickup.
Directed by Rupert Everett.
A very interesting take on the life and, especially, the last years of Oscar Wilde.
For many audiences, Stephen Fry is the face of Oscar Wilde, so forceful in the film of 1997. In the 1960s he was portrayed by both Peter Finch and Robert Morley.
This time the portrayal is by Rupert Everett who has appeared in film versions of An Ideal Husband as well as The Importance of Being Earnest. He has also portrayed Wilde on the stage in England and in France. And, not only this, he has written the screenplay, directed the film and played Wilde. Quite an achievement.
So, this portrayal of Wilde moves away from the Stephen Fry debonair style. It is glimpsed sometimes in the flashbacks, Wilde on stage charming the audience after a performance of a play. However, these the same people who turned against Wilde, many spurning him or rejoicing in his humiliation.
Everett has entitled his film The Happy Prince after a story by Wilde from 1888. It is a fable about a statue of happy Prince, standing above the town, is one ordinary people, a privileged kind of life. It is also the story of a swallow, flying over the city, dying. But, God looks on the rubble of the statue and on the dead bird and raises them back to life. In the film, Wilde is seen reading this story to his two young boys.
But, it is an appropriate image for Wilde in his life and career, a statue on a pedestal, feted by everyone, clever, playwright, short stories, Dorian Grey, a philosophy of pleasure, a master of wit but only to crash in unhappiness.
Everett’s Wilde also looks the worse for a blend of dissipation in life as well as hard labour for two years in prison. We hear of the Marquis of Queensbury but do not see him. We hear about the charges of crimes of sodomy as well is a severe sentence of the judge, hard labour. We see Wilde going to prison, stripped and humiliated, transferred from Wandsworth to Reading, sitting on Clapham Junction Station in prison clothes, mocked by the public – and Wilde later linking this severe scene in his life with the passion of Jesus.
There are also scenes with Wilde’s wife, Constance (Emily Watson), supporting him financially, but humiliated, unwell, dying.
A lot of the action actually takes place in France after Wilde gets out of prison, lacking money, still frivolous, still spending, going to taverns, attracted to the boys, calming taverns fights by singing. His also supported by the faithful Robbie Ross and by his friend Reggie (Colin Firth).
And, Bosey?
Wild has told everyone, including Constance, that he will have nothing to do with Bosey again. But, as soon as he turns up, foppish, selfish, irresponsible, Wilde is immediately won over again. They decide to go to Naples, live the high gay life, until Bosey’s allowance is cut off.
Wilde’s last year is a sad one. Bosey has gone. Robbie Ross is devoted – and, Catholic, conscious that Wilde may have been baptised as a child, and appreciating Wilde’s fascination with Catholicism, calls a priest (Tom Wilkinson as a jovial Irish Father Dunne) to administer the last rites.
There is another important priest in the film. Wilde and his friends are pursued in the streets by a homophobic group with Wilde taking refuge in a church. He sees an old priest going to the altar, kneeling, praying desperately – and Wilde realises the reality of life’s sufferings.
Wilde’s poem from Reading Gaol was called De Profundis. In so many ways, in his last years, Wilde’s life was, as the Psalm says, calling out to God from the depths.
1. The title? The reference? Oscar Wilde – as a Happy Prince? Ironies?
2. Oscar Wilde himself, his reputation, theatre, wit and language, life and family, homosexuality, Bosey and the rent boys, in court, condemned, hard labour in prison, writing De Profundis in Reading jail, the religious dimension?
3. Rupert Everett, writing the screenplay, acting as Wilde, directing? His interpretation, sense of realism, sympathies? Strengths and weaknesses of Wilde?
4. The particular chapter of his life, getting out of Reading jail, going to France, to Naples? The flashbacks to his life?
5. The collage of events, the jigsaw of events, the audience putting this portrait of Wilde together, his good and bad?
6. Audience knowledge about Wilde, seeing his place, knowing some quotes, the tragic end?
7. The recitation of The Happy Prince, to his sons in bed, Wilde as the Prince, the emblem of the swallow, flying over the city? Their deaths? God seeing them and loving them into new life? The comment on the flowers as God’s teardrops?
8. The British cast, cameos, performances, giving strength to the film?
9. The period, the musical score, the songs, the classics, the song about the boy…? The effect of the mixture of happy memories, sad memories? Seeing Wilde as a writer, the performance of his plays, talking to the audience, his wit on stage and the laughter? His becoming a celebrity? The later rejection and spurning? His love for Constance, the marriage, the boys? His tour of America? All his success?
10. Sexuality, the issues at the time, criminal law, the severity of sentences, public opinion? The court sequence, the severity of the judge? The use of hard labour? Wilde and his hidden life, the young men, Bosey, his being away, the support of Robbie Ross, the attacks by the Marquis of Queensbury?
11. Prison, hard labour, Wandsworth, the entry, the humiliation stripping? The transfer to ready? Clapham Junction, the worst time of his life, God present at the station? The delay? The people mocking – and the later comparison with Jesus and the crucifixion?
12. Wilde coming out, the effect, the relationship with Bosey, Constance and her response, grief? His boys, writing? Constance and the effect of the humiliation, crippled? Her getting advice? The letter, hurting, the boys not knowing their father? Wilde and his concern? Her debts?
13. Robbie Ross, his love and devotion to, finance, his presence, the clash with Bosey, at the funeral, the fight with Bosey? His living to 1918 and supporting Wilde his reputation?
14. Reggie, friendship, support, presence, and Wilde’s death? His lack of interest in the religious dimension of Wilde’s death? Paris, the group chased through the streets, Wilde fighting back, Reggie’s surprise, question taking refuge in church?
15. Wilde in France, dissipated, drinking, his lodgings, his change of name, money and needs, seeing the socialite in the street, the support, begging from her? His being spurned by her friends?
16. The taverns, the crowds, Jack and his brother, Wilde telling the story? The sexual relationship with Jack? The flashbacks to the past, of the meeting? Friendship with Maurice, the Foreign Legion, fighting and, Wilde and his changing the atmosphere, singing, making everyone happy?
17. The poets’ meeting, the carousal, tearing up the bill? The consequences?
18. Bosey, his return, love for Wilde, Wilde denying at first, but committed to Bosey, talking, the decision to go to Naples, making a live there? Bosey and his presence? The men, the party, the stripping, Felice’s mother and her being upset, relieved that there were no women? Bosey, his being cut off by his family?
19. The return to Paris, Wilde’s illness, the effect of his ear, surgery? The doctor, the concern? Robbie Ross and Reggie?
20. The issue of suffering, the Happy Prince? Wilde watching the old priest in church, kneeling before the altar, kissing, praying, the value of suffering?
21. Wilde the issue of his baptism, Catholic or not? The emphasis on the blood of Jesus and suffering?
22. His death, Robbie Ross and his getting the priest, in the coach, the touch of jokes, the Irish background? The priest, the oils, talking with Wilde? Anointing him? Wilde and the signs? Confessing, dying? The funeral? The fight? But Wilde’s memorial in the cemetery?
23. The final collage of memories?
24. A different portrait of Wilde, the focus on the aftermath of the court case, his final years, his dissipation? Yet a certain goodness beyond his philosophy of pleasure?
