Rating: 
Summary: Much tea and sympathy
Review: Carefully researched and responsibly adapted for the screen, this film is based primarily on Richard Ellman's highly regarded 1988 biography "Oscar Wilde." (Ellman's book is out of print, but still relatively easy to find). The film essentially covers the latter part of the great Irish writer's life--his fall from grace when he is publicly challenged by the Marquess of Queensberry for having sexual relations with the Marquess's son, Lord Alfred Douglas (called "Bosie"). This is much the same turf covered by the exceptional play by Moises Kaufman, "Gross Indecency" (the script of this play is still in print). Unlike the play which consists almost entirely of trial transcripts, press coverage, and the writings of Wilde and others involved in the case, the film only turns to primary sources when needed. The filmmakers are less concerned with the legal tedium (three separate trials have been collapsed into what appears to be one), the larger issues of the decline of the British Empire, and the unraveling of Victorian morality in the face of modernity. Their primary interest seems to be the exploration of Wilde's psychology and the hold Douglas had on him. Careful to avoid the anachronistic use of terms like "homosexual" and "bisexual", Wilde is depicted as deeply fond of his wife Constance and their sons while being mesmerized by Douglas and the gay underworld of brothels and rentboys that they explore together. If the filmmakers are guilty of anything, it may be for depicting Wilde with too much sympathy. Wilde seems at times to be a saintly victim. Certainly he was more responsible for the consequences of his actions than the filmmakers suggest.This film, it should be said, is perfectly cast. Stephen Fry is as physically as close to Wilde as any casting director is likely to find; Jude Law's flawless beauty is put to good use in the role of Bosie; and Tom Wilkinson is a volatile and scary Marquess of Queensberry. The supporting actors are equally superb. The filmmakers make an odd choice to use Wilde's fairy tale "The Selfish Giant" as a recurring theme throughout the story, perhaps to emphasize Wilde's physical size, or to show that he was a loving and caring father who easily spun out fairy tales to entertain his sons. In these senses it works. But it seems to inflate the importance of that minor work within Wilde's corpus. "Lady Windermere's Fan," "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "The Importance of Being Ernest," and "Salome" are only mentioned in passing. And Wilde's great prison work, "De Profundis," (150 pages in the Viking Portable Library edition) is cavalierly referred to as "a letter to Bosie." The DVD extras are wonderful: two lengthy featurettes and audio commentary by the producer, director, screenwriter, and Fry. Although the commentators were fairly courteous to one another, it's probably impossible to do an intelligible commentary track with more than three persons.
Rating: 
Summary: Stephen Fry is Wilde and Wonderful
Review: I saw this film when it was in theaters and I have been looking forward to its debut on dvd. I wasn't very familiar with Oscar Wilde's life story and this film gives you a nice summary of the eccentric writer's life. Wilde had a wicked wit and was homosexual at a time when that sexual orientation was a crime. Unfortunately, he fell in love with a selfish young man named Bosie Douglas played wonderfully by Jude Law. The writer of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "The Importance of Being Earnest", and "An Ideal Husband" died an impoverished death, after serving a two year sentence for the crime of homosexuality. There are many reasons to buy this film---Wilde's great one liners, the performance of Stephen Fry, and the great cast, including Vanessa Redgrave. You won't be disappointed with this dvd.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, you will want to visit Paris...
Review: In WILDE, Stephen Fry (Jeeves in "Jeeves and Wooster") is the consummate Wilde. Jude Law plays his lover Bosie Douglas. Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth Bennett in "Pride and Predjudice") plays Wilde's long suffering wife. Vanessa Redgrave and Tom Wilkinson also have important roles. What a cast. The Belle Epoch is beautifully recreated as Wilde travels between England and France--clothes, interiors, architecture, grounds. You don't even have to understand the story to enjoy "being there" in the parks, homes, carrriages. Oscar Wilde was a writer, best remembered perhaps for "The Portrait of Dorian Grey" although modern audiences may be more familiar with his stage play "The Ideal Husband" (recently made into a film with Jeremy Northern and Cate Blanchett) or "The Importance of Being Earnest." Wilde was a homosexual in England in an age when one could and did go to prison for acting on instinct. (Nowadays in Saudia Arabia they take off your head.) Although the public became aware of his proclivities, Wilde remained one of Europe's most admired writers. Unfortunately, his term in prison for his sexual preferences may be remembered longer than his works which contain a wonderful drawing room humor many folks fail to grasp. This is a great film, and if you're an Anglophile you must add it to your collection. -- And Paris?? That's where Oscar is buried.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie!!
Review: This is one of my absolute favorite movies ever! I LOVE it... It's got amazing acting and a great story... I actually learned a lot from it. I saw it on Bravo and I'm going to buy a copy soon. This is a must-see movie!!
Rating:
Summary: Completely Awesome
Review: I saw this movie on 'Bravo' and fell in love with it. It's a moving piece that is wonderfully acted with a great soundtrack to boot. Jude Law is absolutely gorgeous.
Rating: 
Summary: JUDE AND STEPHEN DELIVER STAR PERFORMANCES
Review: This is a superficial account on the life of the most famous homosexual ever, the master of poetry, Oscar Wilde.
Instead of tragic intensity we are given a watered out love story which wouldn`t be so had the writer Julian Mitchell and director Brian Gilbert stressed the subject and moved 2 fast.
Stephen lacks Oscar`s cynisism, but with Jude Law quite good without being brilliant...
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Fry was born to be Wilde
Review: This film, for all its wonderful acting, writing and loyalty to history, was lopsided as far as Wilde's works are concerned. It delved so totally in Oscar's love for Bosie, and his children and wife, which of course was paramount to Oscar but it should have dealt more with his inspiration as a writer and the great literary works that he created. Oscar Wilde was the toast of British society and the film could have shown us more of the high-living dandy that he was. As a result, Oscar was presented to the audience as practically saint-like, without any of the torment or neurosis that artists ultimately live through to create their art.
The casting on the other hand, was brilliant, Stephen Fry was spooky in his resemblance to Wilde as were all the other actors, notably Jude Law (Bosie), right down to the pimple on his cheek.
But I had the feeling that this movie was made primarily for a gay audience who yearns to see a justification of "the love that dare not speak its name". The non-gay viewers could easily feel left out.
One thing the director and all concerned with this fine film did acheive beautifully is the unfolding of the tragedy of the hypocritical society that trashes its greatest artists and bashes a love that it refuses to understand.
Rating:
Summary: Oscars for Wilde
Review: There can only be one explanation for why this movie wasn't revered and esteemed world over. Society really hasn't changed that much since the times portrayed in 'Wilde.' But this isn't supposed to be a social commentary, but a grand ovation for what is, in my opinion, one of the best movies ever. To begin with, the performances of Stephen Fry and Jude Law are really quite extrordinary. Stephen Fry, in particular, manages not only to look unnervingly like Oscar Wilde, but to embody the wonderful (and complicated) character to an uncanny extent. I applaud Jude Law as well for choosing movies like this instead of (or perhaps as well as ^_^) the normal Hollywood teen fare. He really does give a frighteningly good performance, manic depressive to the core. Jennifer Ehle is also very good in the understated but understanding role of Wilde's wife. All in all, I was really blown away by this movie. Not only is it an incredible tribute to Wilde's wit, but also to his life, to the "love that dare not speak its name" and how it is as true and wonderful a love as any other. Sometimes painful, always powerful, Wilde is a rare gem.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but could have been better
Review: The movie was pretty good, with excellent acting by Stephen Fry, Jude Law, and Zoe Wannamaker (Zoe's role is somewhat small, but she makes an impact in her scenes). However, there was too much focus on Wilde's sexual exploits and not enough on his work. Even if the sex scenes were historically accurate, which is doubtful, there was far too much emphasis on them, while Wilde's wonderful mind was not highlighted enough. Wilde was so much more than someone who sat around lusting after young men and even watching them having sex with each other, but you wouldn't know it judging from some of the show. I wish they could redo the movie and shift the emphasis. Wilde deserves recognition for more than his sex life. Also, the sex scenes were a bit much in general. I don't care in the slightest that the scenes were homosexual in nature; I just think they could have been done more tastefully. How many times do we really need to see someone's rear end, even if it's Jude Law's? Overall, I recommend the movie, but to get a better picture of what Wilde was really like I would look to other sources.
Rating:
Summary: THE WILDE ONE
Review: To those whose knowledge of the life and work of Oscar Wilde is limited to the fact that he was a Victorian homosexual imprisoned and put to hard labour for his "crimes", I heartily recommend this film. There was SO MUCH MORE to his scope and his outlook on life; his existentialist pleadings for the freedom of artistic expression, and for the rights of the individual, to name but a few things about which he felt passionately. Wilde's life and times (Ellmann's biography of him provides the data for the film) are given unflinching visual representation in a visceral and accessible format. While I personally would have edited some of the more graphic homoerotic couplings, these (to me) unseemly details were part of his extraordinary life, and ought to be acknowledged nonetheless. I simply cannot imagine anyone in the world better suited to play Oscar than Steven Fry, the resemblance is striking! As to Jude Law, he is most compelling as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the down-at-heel and petulant aristocrat with whom Wilde fell in love in the early 1890s. Vanessa Redgrave, for her part, is simply divine as his doting and eccentric Irish mother; would that all mothers were so supportive of their sons. All in all, this film is the most accurate representation of OW's life we are ever likely to see. It is a must own for any devotee of Victorian life and English literature.
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