The Happy Prince (2018)

The Happy Prince: Directed by Rupert Everett. With Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan. The untold story of the last days in the tragic times of Oscar Wilde, a person who observes his own failure with ironic distance and regards the difficulties that beset his life with detachment and humor.

“u0026quot;And all men kill the thing they love/ By all let this be heard/ Some do it with a bitter look/ Some with a flattering word/ The coward does it with a kiss/The brave man with a sword!u0026quot; Oscar Wilde (Rupert Everett)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBecause I am a devoted fan of Oscar Wilde, I had to open this review of The Happy Prince with his famous final stanza from The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Itu0026#39;s his wisdom for those foolishly thinking love is always benign, and it signals Wildeu0026#39;s own ironic awareness of his complicity in landing for two deadly years in Reading for gross indecency (homosexuality).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe stanza also may allude to the disaster he brought the many he loved, male and female. As his first and final love, Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas), declares, u0026quot;Heu0026#39;ll eat you.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Happy Prince tells of Wildeu0026#39;s last days after his tragic imprisonment; he is subject to taunts even from Parisians, so famous was he round the world. An u0026quot;exiled fairyu0026quot; he called himself. Because homosexuality was outlawed in England, it is especially ironic that the once most famous author of the 1890u0026#39;s should be vilified with universal shame.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn 2017 he and other convicted sodomites were pardoned, small comfort to those of us who believe he could have had more greatness like The Importance of Being Earnest and The Ideal Husband to come.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film carefully chronicles Wildeu0026#39;s self-destructive self-indulgence, living high when he didnu0026#39;t have the funds and returning to the arms of Lord Alfred u0026quot;Bosieu0026quot; Douglas (Colin Morgan), the beautiful young man he loved, whose love cost Wilde the years in jail and everything else. Wilde himself says, u0026quot;I am my own Judas.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe recurring theme song, u0026quot;The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery,u0026quot; resonates with the joy and sorrow he brings to himself. Empathetic director-actor Everett also suffered professionally when he came out at the age of 25. This film, however, should bring him universal acclaim.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat story of Wildeu0026#39;s life is available on film and in biography, but Everett has given us the final period not dramatically and universally enjoyed until now with a fine performance he sharpened from many years playing the doomed wit on stage, set here in Paris, Normandy, and Naples, and set production in Bavaria and Belgium.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis Wilde is disconsolate, weary, and dissolute with not enough of his witticisms and epigrams to my liking. In fact, as seemingly realistic as it is, it is perhaps too gloomy for a general audience. But for literature and art house lovers, itu0026#39;s nectar.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSomewhere in the middle of the film, Wilde says his most famous final words: u0026quot;I am dying beyond my means. I canu0026#39;t even afford to die. This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go.u0026quot; Wilde is arguably the most quoted author after Shakespeare, and these words show how even death by meningitis canu0026#39;t stop his wit.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBTW: Research his countless epigrams-youu0026#39;ll spend an afternoon in bliss. These are three samples:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. Thatu0026#39;s his.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDorothy Parker gives the ultimate praise:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;If, with the literate, I amnImpelled to try an epigram,nI never seek to take the credit;nWe all assume that Oscar said it.u0026quot;”