WILDE (47)

Directed by: Brian Gilbert

Starring: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Tom Wilkinson

The Pitch: The story of Oscar Wilde, focusing on the little-known fact that he was married and the father of two children before finally admitting to himself his true sexuality.

Theo Sez: The opening scene, with its Wild West setting, seems to promise something different, but the only surprise is how completely the Artist-as-Victim stereotype is embraced, and even reinforced - Wilde a victim not merely of others' hypocrisy, but also of his own sexuality. The emphasis is on his decision to "follow his nature", but there's nothing celebratory about it - homosexuality, as presented here, takes him from his loving wife and adorable kiddies to the wiles of a troubled, borderline-psychotic young man who uses him for his own ends ; for all the talk of coming-out as a wonderful relief ("I feel like a city that's been under siege for twenty years"), for all the explicit sex scenes and heartfelt courtroom apologia for "the love that dare not speak its name", being gay comes across as a kind of disease (ah, the film seems to tut, if he could only have wrested himself free!). There's some excellent detail - Wilkinson (as Queensberry Sr.) melting reluctantly before Wilde's famous charm, or flaxen-haired Bosie singing "O Leave Me Not to Pine Alone" amid the hothouse atmosphere of an Oxford common-room - but the faint whiff of self-loathing is unmistakable ; and Fry's otherwise admirable performance - Oscar as a caring, sensitive, thoroughly decent fellow, reeling off witticisms to cover up his shyness - doesn't really help.