The last days of Oscar Wilde -- and the ghosts that haunted them -- are vividly evoked in Rupert Everett's directorial debut. Everett gives a career defining performance as Wilde, physically and emotionally embodying the literary genius as he lives out his last days in exile in Europe. His body ailing and heavy, his mind spinning, he survives by falling back on the flamboyant irony and brilliant wit that defined him. As the film travels through Wilde's final act and journeys through England, France and Italy, desire and loyalty face off, the transience of lust is laid bare, and the true riches of love are revealed.
27 April 1965, Richmond, Surrey, England, UK
14 January 1967, Islington, London, England, UK
1 January 1986, Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK
7 June 1940, Chester, England, UK
August 18, 1995 in Scafati, Campania, Italy
1977, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, England, UK
October 11, 1987 in Naples, Campania, Italy
29 May 1959, Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, England, UK
October 05, 2018
The Happy Prince proves that Rupert Everett was born to tell the tumultuous story of a kindred spirit. Oscar Wilde would be proud.June 13, 2018
The Happy Prince proves that a film can be both bleak and warm-spirited, as befits its mighty subject.January 26, 2018
There's nothing happy here.October 08, 2018
Everett shows little sense of how to structure his material, or how to shoot it, or even sometimes how to act it, but he does have one key element that sees him through: keen insight into Wilde's world and character. And this insight gets him pretty far.January 22, 2018
He's a strikingly tragic creature, but "The Happy Prince" struggles to say much more about that conundrum, leaving one to contemplate the potential had [Oscar] Wilde emerged from retirement to fill in the blanks.August 27, 2018
The thing that's most impressive is that it's well directed.August 22, 2018
Everett the wit does not forget to deliver laughs along the way, even at the story's close.October 03, 2018
For every haunting sequence in The Happy Prince, there's five that redundantly wallow in Wilde's misery, which is Everett's point, but it becomes wearisome.October 04, 2018
Everett tips the movie over into ridiculousness when he starts making barely veiled allusions to Wilde as a Christ-like figure. I don't know if it's hilarious or unnerving to think that Everett must think of himself that way too.June 27, 2018
Rupert Everett the writer-director isn't as impressive as Rupert Everett the actor.June 13, 2018
As a director, Everett is sometimes heavy-handed, but the performances, and the undeniable injustice of Wilde's ordeal, make for a tragedy worthy of its drama-loving subject.January 22, 2018
As a final, permanent showcase for a role Everett was born to play, then, "The Happy Prince" does the job.