WILDE [1997]

deepdivemovie
Jan 29, 2022
6 min read

“The gods are strange. It is not our vices only they make instruments to scourge us. They bring us to ruin through what in us is good, gentle, humane, loving.”― Oscar Wilde

The film opens with Wilde's 1882 lecture in the United States, chronologically recounting the life of the aesthetic master, his family, wife and son; his lover; the peak of his career; his trial, his disgrace. Fragments of Wilde's works are subtly interspersed in the narration, such as the performances of "Lady Windermere's Fan: A Play About a Good Woman" and "The Importance of Being Earnest", "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Salome" were shown in the film or mentioned in dialogue . ", the fairy tale "The Selfish Giant" which appears along with the film's narrative.

"You're always away." Cyril's unintentionally froze his father's smile. Wilde loved his sons, even after being imprisoned, he made it clear that the greatest pain was not being able to see the children again. However, as a father, he was derelict. When Bosie took his hand and strolled on the Oxford campus, we saw the child by the window listening to his mother reading fairy tales - but the scene changed - the lonely boy lying on the chair, it turned out that he was the grown-up Cyril, the child by the window was actually young Vyvyan in the. "You will come back and finish the story?" "Of course I will." But many years have passed and he failed to fulfill his promise.

We all read Wilde’s tales when we were young. Maybe you haven’t heard of his name, but stories like ‘the happy prince’ must bring you back to those innocent times. At that time, the most memorable one was "The Nightingale and the Rose". It demonstrate the beauty of solitude and sorrow.

And "The Selfish Giant," on the very last page of that tale wrote, "And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossom."

Whether it is "The Happy Prince" or "The Fisherman and His Soul", Wilde's fairy tales, as many of his works portrait the soul is above the body, art is superior to life, and once it is freed, the beauty remains the same. But there is always a touch of sadness throughout, which is desolate and distant, occupying all the imagination.

If Wilde's family life can be summed up in "The Selfish Giant", his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas may be "Salomé", a tragedy caused by his own way. Wilde's era was Victoria, a time of stubbornness, prejudice, and great emphasis on traditional etiquette. Britain is the most hypocritical country in the world. At that time, London newspapers scolded Paris for its openness and so-called immorality. As an Irishman, Wilde openly challenged traditional moral norms in London, and went out with Lord Douglas in high society, literary circles, and London's theaters, restaurants and cafes.

Long before he met Douglas Jr., when he was lecturing in the United States to promote aestheticism, his gorgeous velvet coat and breeches had been regarded as "exotic clothes", and he became the protagonist in satirical cartoons. Especially when the British government banned "Salomé" from performing in the UK, Wilde angrily announce that he would renounce his British citizenship. This has caused dissatisfaction with him from all walks of life. So when the trial began in 1895, his dramatic reputation plummeted for "indecent assault", people's attitudes immediately changed from flattery to merciless contempt and insult. In history, there has never been a writer whose reputation has risen and fallen like him, from the world to heaven, and then another instability is thrown into hell, and it is forever.

Wilde first met Douglas Jr. in 1891, when The Picture of Dorian Gray was just published. The time was changed to the night of the premiere of Lady Windermere's Fan, in February 1892. Bosie was 21 at the time and Wilde was 37.

Wilde despise ugly things. Vyvyan wrote in his biography that one of the most important reasons why Wilde hated Verlaine was that the famous poet was really ugly. So when he saw Bosie, a man handsome as Greek statue, with the beauty of Adonis, not to mention he was also good at writing sonnets. Wilde immediately fell in love with the young man.

He loves Bosie and indulges him because of the cruelty of Bosie’s family, giving him meticulous care and love. As he and Robbie and others said when watching the rehearsal of "Women of No Importance": "Bosie's a child, he needs love." No matter how rude or even terrible Bosie did, he always forgives him. On the other hand, Wilde, who was deeply fascinated by Greek culture, did not think there was anything wrong with the relationship between them - "It is beautiful, it is elegant, it is the most noble emotion. As long as the older With intelligence, and the youth has the joy and hope of life, it continues to exist between the elderly and the youth." Wilde considered this to be a kind of Greek Love, a Platonic Love, and a noble of.

Fate has woven the threads of two unrelated lives into a blood-red pattern, although from “De Profundis" we can see that Wilde grudges the sadness of this period and tells him The depravity of mind put all the blame on Bosie Douglas. Although they maybe in love at that time, Bosie was too immature, he hates his father far more than his love. Blinded by hatred, all he could see was narrow, walled, little garden of vulgar desires withered by indulgence. He will never understand that the purpose of love is to love, no more, no less. He took Wilde's incomparably precious love for him and made a cheap wager of hatred with his father, but unfortunately he just lost. Lost the soul of a great artist, lost everything of Wilde.

The role of Bosie in the film was played by Jude Law, who successfully interprets all the characteristics of Bosie Douglas with superb acting and near-perfect classical temperament - vanity, superficiality, immaturity and capriciousness, and above all On top of these, the most important - just like Bosie’s self-description in reality - Prince Lily, was just laughing at his shallowness, which was the only impression of this title when in "De Profundis". But Jude, especially in the last scene at the end of the credits, that moment when the smile emerges, pure, beautiful, Lily Prince is the only description that would fit. No compromise - Charming. This Bosie is so wonderful that it hurts to see his disrespect and betrayal of Wilde in the play, as if Wilde fell into grief again.

Photos of Bosie and Wilde are available online. It was indeed gorgeous but Jude is no worse than him. So although there are no obvious loopholes, the radiance that belongs to the heart of youth and the confidence that only belongs to Wilde, which completely mocks everything, he shows far from enough.

The cover of "The Plays of Oscar Wilde"is William Powell Frith's 1881 work "The Private View of the Royal Academy" (The Private View of the Royal Academy), the main character in the painting is Wilde. This book contains all of Wilde's plays, from “Vera” (1880) to “The Duchess of Padua” (1883), which was made to earn royalties (the two plays were not performed in London), to his five plays of fame: “Salomé", “Lady Windermere's Fan”(1892), “A Woman of No Importance”, (1893), “An Ideal Husband” (1895) and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895), and the last two unfinished works, “La Sainte Courtisane” and “A Florentine Tragedy”. The latter is a script written in blank verse. The creation of these two short plays was probably after "The Ideal Husband”, at the end of 1894. Wilde said in his "De Profundis" that because of Bosie’s unsolicited call at this time, his creative inspiration and mood had vanished. The two skits thus became regrets.

As Wilde said in "De Profundis", the most terrifying thing is that it has wrapped tragedy into comedy. "We are the zanies of sorrow. We are clowns whose hearts are broken. We are specially designed to appeal to the sense of humour." Those great writings, and all that the gods of Mount Olympus bestowed upon him: talent, status, money, and glory, seemed to matter no more on that day a hundred years ago, when the unjust judge pronounced his sentence . People's ridicule, as enthusiastic as the St. Valentine's Day premiere of "The Importance of Being Earnest", has become the laughing stock of people after dinner and regain its appreciation after decades.

Britain finally abolished the death penalty for homosexuals in 1861, but should we be lucky? Tchaikovsky was also tortured to death for "indecent assault", so can we say Wilde was luckier than him? Two years in hard labour is enough to destroy everything in an artist, especially when his heart is filled with grief; when he can do nothing but remorse; when he loses his mother; when his wife and son was forced to leave him; when Bosie, whom he loved so dearly, was disproving in court, he personally pushed him into hell, and then for two years he did not write a single word for him, not even a word.

"All geniuses are gay." Someone once made this shocking conclusion. Modern artists are even proud of it. But for Wilde, because of his public trial in 1895, his homosexuality even eclipsed his literary name. The ignorant people have taken this as a label that distinguishes him from other writers, or even his only characteristic. It was so cruel to him. Oscar Wilde, as he said to U.S. Customs a hundred years ago, has only his genius to declare, and that alone is worth remembering.