''The Happy Prince'' is a 2018

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film about

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, written and directed by

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English 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 scho ...

in his directorial debut. The film stars Everett,

Colin Firth Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Colin Firth, several accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Aw ...

Colin Morgan Colin Morgan (born 1 January 1986) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is known for playing the title character in the BBC fantasy series ''Merlin'' (2008–2012), Leo Elster in ''Humans'' (2015–2018), and Billy Clanton in Kenneth Branagh' ...

Emily Watson Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of ''Twelfth Night'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' at the Donmar Ware ...

, Edwin Thomas and

Tom Wilkinson Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (5 February 1948 – 30 December 2023) was an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well ...

. It premiered at the

2018 Sundance Film Festival The 2018 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 18 to January 28, 2018. The first lineup of competition films was announced on November 29, 2017. Awards The following awards were presented: * U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award: '' T ...

, and was shown at the 2018 BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival. At the 9th Magritte Awards, it received a nomination in the category of

Best Foreign Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. The film's title alludes to the children's story by Oscar Wilde, ''

The Happy Prince and Other Tales ''The Happy Prince and Other Tales'' (or ''Stories'') is a collection of bedtime stories for children by Oscar Wilde, first published in May 1888. It contains five stories that are highly popular among children and frequently read in schools: ...

'', which Wilde would read aloud to his children. 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.

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 Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

, 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 Posillipo (; ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the mo ...

, 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

as Reggie Turner *

Constance Lloyd Constance Mary Wilde (; 2 January 18587 April 1898) was an Irish writer. She was the wife of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and the mother of their two sons, Cyril Holland, Cyril and Vyvyan Holland, Vyvyan. Early life and marriage The daughter ...

as Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas * Edwin Thomas as

Robbie Ross Robert Baldwin Ross (25 May 18695 October 1918) was a British journalist, art critic and art dealer, best known for his relationship with Oscar Wilde, to whom he was a devoted friend, lover and literary executor. A grandson of the Canadian r ...

as Fr Dunne *

Anna Chancellor Anna Theodora Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is an English actress who has appeared widely on TV, film and in the theatre. She received a nomination for BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lix Storm in '' The Hour'' (201 ...

as Mrs Arbuthnot *

Béatrice Dalle Béatrice Dalle (born 19 December 1964) is a French actress and model. She has appeared in over fifty films and is best known internationally for her debut role in the 1986 film '' 37°2 le matin'' (also released as ''Betty Blue''). Béatrice Da ...

as Café Manager *

Julian Wadham Julian Neil Rohan Wadham (born 7 August 1958) is an English actor of stage, film and television. Early life The third son of Rohan Nicholas Wadham DFC and Juliana Wadham (''née'' Macdonald Walker), Wadham was educated at Ampleforth College ...

as Mr Arbuthnot *

John Standing Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934), known professionally as John Standing, is an English actor. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherine Standing), an actress, and Sir Ronal ...

as Dr Tucker * André Penvern as Mr Dupoirier * Tom Colley as Maurice Gilbert * Stephen M. Gilbert as Paine * Alister Cameron as Mr Howard * Benjamin Voisin as Jean

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

on the film began in mid-September 2016 in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany. Filming was also done in France, Belgium and Italy.

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply (film), Truly, ...

and

Lionsgate UK Lions Gate UK Limited (formerly Redbus Film Distribution, and briefly known as Helkon SK between 2001 and 2003) is the British subsidiary of the American film company, Lionsgate Studios. Founded in 1999 by Simon Franks and Zygi Kamasa, Redbus ...

were some of the co-producers of the film, with the latter also handling UK distribution. 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. Due to budgetary problems, Firth agreed to forego his fee.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . 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." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (11 March 1947 – 24 May 2025) was an English television executive and presenter. He held senior roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, controller of BBC1 and BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadca ...

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

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
''The Happy Prince—(2018)''
Non-commercial review and in-depth analysis. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Prince 2018 films 2010s Belgian films 2010s British films 2010s English-language films 2010s historical drama films 2010s LGBTQ-related drama films 2018 biographical drama films 2018 directorial debut films 2018 independent films 2018 LGBTQ-related films BBC Film films British biographical drama films British historical drama films British independent films British LGBTQ-related films Biographical films about LGBTQ people Biographical films about poets Biographical films about writers Cultural depictions of Oscar Wilde Drama films based on actual events English-language biographical drama films English-language historical drama films English-language independent films Films based on biographies Films set in 1890 Films set in 1895 Films set in 1897 Films set in 1900 Films set in Florence Films set in London Films set in Naples Films set in Normandy Films set in Paris Films shot in Bavaria Films shot in Belgium Films shot in France Films shot in Italy Gay-related films LGBTQ-related films based on actual events Satellite Award–winning films September Film Distribution films Sony Pictures Classics films