The Happy Prince

The last days of Oscar Wilde--and the ghosts that haunted them--are vividly evoked in Rupert Everett’s directorial debut, The Happy Prince. After being imprisoned in England for his love affair with Lord Alfred Bosie Douglas (Colin Morgan), Wilde is penniless and in poor health, stumbling the streets of Paris. Out of prison but a pariah, Wilde swings between grief and a determination to wrest whatever pleasure and beauty he can from the time left. Surviving only by falling back on his flamboyant irony and brilliant wit that defined him, his thoughts are imbued with love and betrayal. He turns to those closest to him, his literary agent Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas), his great friend Reggie Turner (Colin Firth), and his estranged wife Constance (Emily Watson), and begins to reflect on his life’s choices and the effects they have on those around him. As the film travels through Wilde’s final act and journeys from England to France to Italy, desire and loyalty face off, the transience of lust is laid bare, and the true riches of love are revealed.