Review of The Trials of Oscar Wilde

Oddly enough I had never seen this film and had just seen Oscar Wilde with Stephen Fry as the man himself. I didn't think it was very good, and after watching Peter Finch as Wilde with a fine supporting cast, I realised just how bad that one was. This, on the other hand, pulls it off in spades. The story of Wilde's rise to become the toast of London and his spectacular fall from grace within month's is well known, and The Trials Of Oscar Wilde plays it all very straight (no silly joke intended there). But it scores so well because it gets the tone exactly right and there is not one bad performance in it. Wilde was a complex man. He might now be a gay icon and regarded as a trailblazer for gay rights, but he was also a devoted and loving father for whom possibly the bitterest blow was not being able to see his children again after his release from jail. Too many have the wrong impression that he was nothing more than a flamboyant poseur, but there was, in fact, far more to him than that: he had a sound intellect, was a natural writer and he was self-aware. He was also exceptionally honest, he was kind and he was generous. Few stuck by him after his fall, but notably among his friends were Robbie Ross and Ada Leverson, who had the courage to stick by his side when too many other friends revealed themselves as fairweather folk. By his own admission, he 'went mad' for a few years and destroyed himself. The greatness of the man is very well conveyed in this version of his trials and I recommend it highly. Forget about the Stephen Fry effort, which falls flat on its face compared to this.