The Happy Prince (2018 film)

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The Happy Prince
The Happy Prince (2018 film).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rupert Everett
Written byRupert Everett
Produced by
  • Sébastien Delloye
  • Philipp Kreuzer
  • Jörg Schulze
Starring
CinematographyJohn Conroy
Edited byNicolas Gaster
Music by Gabriel Yared
Production
companies
  • BBC Films
  • Lions Gate UK
  • Movie Management Corporation
  • Daryl Prince Productions
  • Casa Kafka Pictures
  • Belgian Tax Shelter
  • Belfius Zielke Strat Et Go International
  • Raindog Films
  • Maze Pictures
  • Entre Chien et Loup
  • Palomar
  • Cine Plus Filmproduktion
  • Tele München Group
  • Proximus Films
  • RTBF (Television Belge)
  • Concorde Filmverleih
  • FFF Bayern
  • Deutscher Filmförderfonds
  • Eurimages
  • Wallimage
  • Wallonie-Bruxells Federation
  • Screen Brussels
  • Mibact Direzione Generale Cinema
  • Beta Cinema
Distributed by
  • Concorde Filmverleih (Austria and Germany)
  • September Film Distribution (Belgium and Netherlands) [1]
  • Vision Distribution (Italy) [1]
  • Lions Gate UK (United Kingdom and Ireland)
Release dates
  • 21 January 2018 (2018-01-21)(Sundance)
  • 12 April 2018 (2018-04-12)(Italy)
  • 15 June 2018 (2018-06-15)(United Kingdom)
Running time
105 minutes
Countries
  • Germany
  • Belgium
  • Italy
  • United Kingdom
LanguagesEnglish, French, Italian
Box office$2.2 million [2]

The Happy Prince is a 2018 biographical drama film about Oscar Wilde, written and directed by Rupert Everett in his directorial debut. [3] The film stars Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Edwin Thomas and Tom Wilkinson. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, [4] and was shown at the 2018 BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival. [5] At the 9th Magritte Awards, it received a nomination in the category of Best Foreign Film. [6]

Contents

The film's title alludes to the children's story by Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Tales , which Wilde would read aloud to his children. [3] The film was released in Italy on 12 April 2018, in the United Kingdom on 15 June 2018 and in the United States on 10 October 2018 to positive reviews from critics. [7]

Plot

1897. Oscar Wilde has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for gross indecency. Separated from his wife and children, he arrives in Dieppe, where old friends Reggie Turner and Robert Ross await him. Wilde assumes the alias of Sebastian Melmoth and tries to rebuild his life: he vainly writes to his wife Constance Lloyd to try to make peace with her. He is recognised by some young Englishmen, who taunt him and pursue him into a church; he defends himself violently, then receives severe warnings from the police.

Oscar then reunites with his old lover Bosie Douglas, angering Robbie, whose secret love for him has never been reciprocated. Oscar and Bosie flee together to Naples, where they live for some time in a house in Posillipo, leading a libertine life. Soon Bosie's mother ceases to send her son his allowance – she is willing to resume payments and give a £200 payoff to Oscar if the two lovers separate. Despite Oscar's anger, they give in and separate. Shortly afterwards Constance, who had forbidden Oscar any contact with Bosie, dies from complications following surgery, and Oscar is denied any contact with their two children.

Now incapable of writing, Oscar takes refuge in Paris, where he lives off his wits and the charity of his old supporters. He meets Reggie and Robbie again and shortly thereafter he finds Bosie, who recently received a large inheritance on the death of his father; Bosie angrily refuses to help him. Meanwhile, the writer begins to show strange symptoms that he attributes to mussel poisoning, suspecting however that it may be syphilis. He meets two poor brothers with whom he shares misery: the elder becomes his favourite, while the younger wants to hear the fairy tale The Happy Prince, which the writer always told his children.

Oscar's illness worsens and he receives a painful surgical operation to treat an abscess in his ear. His precarious physical state causes post-operative infections. With his last strength Oscar asks for an extreme Catholic unction, only to die surrounded by the few friends he has left. At the funeral Robbie complains to Bosie that he was a hypocrite, because he mourns the death of the man who had always loved him and whom he had abandoned without showing any gratitude. Bosie replies that these words are dictated by jealousy, and that only he will be remembered alongside Oscar Wilde, while Robbie will be forgotten.

The film's closing headlines state that Bosie died alone and penniless in 1945, while Robbie, who died in 1918, was buried in Oscar's own grave. Oscar was pardoned in 2017 together with other people convicted of homosexual offences.

Cast

Production

Principal photography on the film began in mid-September 2016 in Bavaria, Germany. Filming was also done in France, Belgium and Italy. [8] BBC Films and Lionsgate UK were some of the co-producers of the film, with the latter also handling UK distribution. [8] [10] Everett's third autobiographical book To the End of the World - Travels with Oscar Wilde (2020) consists in large part of reflections on the preparation and production of this film, recounting many difficulties which occurred. [11] Due to budgetary problems, Firth agreed to forego his fee. [11]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 139 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A passion project for writer, director, and star Rupert Everett, The Happy Prince pays effective tribute to Oscar Wilde with a poignant look at his tragic final days." [12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [13]

The BBC's Alan Yentob produced a TV documentary of the story of Everett's long journey in obtaining funding and support for the film. [14] The documentary took some five years to make, and was completed in 2018, after the film's premiere.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.
2018 Bavarian Film Awards Best ProductionJörg Schulze, Philipp KreuzerWon [15]
Berlin International Film Festival Best Feature Film Rupert Everett Nominated [16]
British Independent Film Awards Best ActorNominated [17]
Camerimage Best Directorial DebutNominated [18]
European Film Awards European ActorNominated [19]
German Film Awards Best Costume DesignMaurizio Millenotti, Giovanni CasalnuovoNominated
Premio BereniceBest Costumes in FilmWon [20]
Seville European Film Festival ActorRupert EverettNominated
2019 Dorian Awards Unsung Film of the YearThe Happy PrinceNominated [21]
Magritte Awards Best Foreign Film in Co-ProductionSébastien Delloye, Entre Chien et LoupNominated [22]
Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound EditingFrançois Dumont, Jérémy Hassid, Antony Gray, Gervaise Demeure, Jeroen Truijens, Vincent MaloumianNominated [23]
Satellite Awards Best First FeatureRupert EverettWon [24]
London Critics Circle Film Awards British/Irish Actor of the YearWon [25]
Film of the YearThe Happy PrinceNominated
Actor of the YearRupert EverettNominated
British/Irish Film of the YearThe Happy PrinceNominated
Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker of the YearRupert EverettNominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Alfred Douglas</span> English poet and journalist (1870–1945)

Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, The Spirit Lamp, that carried a homoerotic subtext, and met Wilde, starting a close but stormy relationship. Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, abhorred it and set out to humiliate Wilde, publicly accusing him of homosexuality. Wilde sued him for criminal libel, but some intimate notes were found and Wilde was later imprisoned. On his release, he briefly lived with Douglas in Naples, but they had separated by the time Wilde died in 1900. Douglas married a poet, Olive Custance, in 1902 and had a son, Raymond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Firth</span> English actor (born 1960)

Colin Andrew Firth is an English actor and producer. Over his career he has been the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Firth was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his services to drama. That same year, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Everett</span> English actor (born 1959)

Rupert James Hector Everett is a British actor. He first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public school in the 1930s; the role earned him his first BAFTA Award nomination. He received a second BAFTA nomination and his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), followed by a second Golden Globe nomination for An Ideal Husband (1999).

<i>Wilde</i> (film) 1997 film by Brian Gilbert

Wilde is a 1997 British biographical romantic drama film directed by Brian Gilbert. The screenplay, written by Julian Mitchell, is based on Richard Ellmann's 1987 biography of Oscar Wilde. It stars Stephen Fry in the title role, with Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker, and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.

<i>The Trials of Oscar Wilde</i> 1960 film by Ken Hughes

The Trials of Oscar Wilde, also known as The Man with the Green Carnation and The Green Carnation, is a 1960 British drama film based on the libel and subsequent criminal cases involving Oscar Wilde and the Marquess of Queensberry. It was written by Allen and Ken Hughes, directed by Hughes, and co-produced by Irving Allen, Albert R. Broccoli and Harold Huth. The screenplay was by Ken Hughes and Montgomery Hyde, based on an unperformed play The Stringed Lute by John Furnell. The film was made by Warwick Films and released by Eros Films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constance Wilde</span> Author, wife of Oscar Wilde

Constance Mary Wilde was an Irish writer. She was the wife of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and the mother of their two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan.

<i>The Importance of Being Earnest</i> (2002 film) 2002 film by Oliver Parker

The Importance of Being Earnest is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Oliver Parker, based on Oscar Wilde's classic 1895 comedy of manners of the same name. The original music score is composed by Charlie Mole. The film grossed $8.4 million in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Turner</span>

Reginald Turner was an English author, an aesthete and a member of the circle of Oscar Wilde. He worked as a journalist, wrote twelve novels, and his correspondence has been published, but he is best known as one of the few friends who remained loyal to Wilde when he was imprisoned and who supported him after his release.

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Oscar Wilde's life and death have generated numerous biographies.

<i>The Judas Kiss</i> (play) 1998 play by David Hare

The Judas Kiss is a 1998 British play by David Hare about Oscar Wilde's scandal and disgrace at the hands of his young lover Bosie.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Thomas (actor)</span> British actor

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