I feel it only fair to compare this film to the earlier production 'Wilde' starring Stephen Fry. Frankly Stephen did a far superior job.
Rupert not only wrote and performed in this one, but he also directed it and as such it came across as a self indulgent film made for him only and not so much for the audience. There is also something smarmy about him that makes it seem vulgar when held up against Mr. Fry's Oscar.
It was quite crudely made and I don't mean the sexy bits, because everyone knows I enjoy those. If anything you didn't see enough for my tastes, but I mean crude in the way of its rough and unpolished finish. I think that done with a more subjective eye, a better budget and locations, sets, etc, the final days of Oscar could be delivered as a masterpiece of the screen. He is a well renowned figure and his death must surely be as interesting as his works and his "Scandalous" life, but Rupert really missed the mark here.
I felt the timeline was all over the place and I did get a bit lost a couple of times. Flashbacks are fine, but it needs to be clear that we are seeing them or have been seeing them for it to work. They were also not the fantastic instances in Mr Wilde's life that we would all crave to see, but a mere recent history before his passing.
No one stands out as a particularly outstanding performer here, but I did like Edwin Thomas as Robbie Ross and not just because he is cute.
Quite simply it does not have the charm and appeal of 'Wilde' and it is very dark in its way, perhaps that was deliberate to show the decline in his fortunes, but it just made it all feel dreary to me.
It was quite crudely made and I don't mean the sexy bits, because everyone knows I enjoy those. If anything you didn't see enough for my tastes, but I mean crude in the way of its rough and unpolished finish. I think that done with a more subjective eye, a better budget and locations, sets, etc, the final days of Oscar could be delivered as a masterpiece of the screen. He is a well renowned figure and his death must surely be as interesting as his works and his "Scandalous" life, but Rupert really missed the mark here.
I felt the timeline was all over the place and I did get a bit lost a couple of times. Flashbacks are fine, but it needs to be clear that we are seeing them or have been seeing them for it to work. They were also not the fantastic instances in Mr Wilde's life that we would all crave to see, but a mere recent history before his passing.
No one stands out as a particularly outstanding performer here, but I did like Edwin Thomas as Robbie Ross and not just because he is cute.
Quite simply it does not have the charm and appeal of 'Wilde' and it is very dark in its way, perhaps that was deliberate to show the decline in his fortunes, but it just made it all feel dreary to me.