Although I knew going in to the film that this was about the end of Wilde's life, and I was therefore expecting a certain amount of bleakness, I wasn't prepared for how much of a slog the film would be.
Part of the problem was that along with all the squalid wretchedness of the piece, I couldn't find a single character to interest me. I should have been able to feel some sympathy for the state of Everett's Wilde, but the portrait of a self-indulgent man, seemingly uncaring of all the damage he was doing to the lives of those around him, made the character thoroughly unlikeable.
Not that liking a character is required for a story to be compelling - sometimes awful personalities can be fascinating to watch - but this version of Wilde wasn't even interesting to me.
The photography looked good at points. The acting was fine from a number of the players, and Everett would have been decent enough if his Wilde had been a minor cast member rather than the main character, but I was seriously tempted to walk out halfway through the film. I only kept watching out of the hope that it would get better.
It didn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment