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The Happy Prince

Original title: The Happy Prince
Year: 2018
Running time: 104 min.
Country: Germany
Director: Rupert Everett
Screenwriter: Rupert Everett
Music: Gabriel Yared
Cinematography: John Conroy
Cast: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Colin Morgan, Miranda Richardson, Anna Chancellor, Julian Wadham, Béatrice Dalle, Ronald Pickup, Joshua McGuire, Daniel Weyman, John Standing, Edwin Thomas, André Penvern, Tom Colley
Producer: Co-production Germany-Belgium-United Kingdom-Italy; Cine Plus Filmproduktion / Robert Fox Limited / BBC Films / Entre Chien et Loup / Raindog Films / Palomar S.p.a / Maze Pictures / Daryl Prince Productions / Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Distributed by Lionsgate
Genre: Drama. Comedy | Biography. 1900s. Literature. Comedy-Drama
Synopsis / Plot: It centers around the final three years of Oscar Wilde (1897–1900). Wilde (Rupert Everett), sequestered at a remote seaside hotel in France by faithful friends (Edwin Thomas and Colin Firth), is soon restlessly traversing Europe, beset by warring impulses: to reunite with his estranged wife (Emily Watson) or his former lover Sir Alfred "Bosie" Douglas (Colin Morgan).

Awards: 2017: German Film Awards: Nominated for Best Costume Design

Critics' reviews

"As a final, permanent showcase for a role Everett was born to play, then, 'The Happy Prince' does the job (...) The writing is more literal than literary"

Guy Lodge: Variety
"Everett's heartfelt performance rescues this otherwise bland depiction of a lonely man at the end of his life (...) 'The Happy Prince' suffers from murky lighting schemes and peculiar transitions"

Eric Kohn: IndieWire
"Despite Everett's command in the central performance and a script liberally sprinkled with amusing bons mots, 'The Happy Prince' generates only faltering dramatic momentum and a shortage of pathos"

David Rooney: The Hollywood Reporter
"This poignant dramatisation of Wilde’s final years in exile is a powerful parable of passion and redemption (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

Peter Bradshaw: The Guardian
"Everett is an exceptional Oscar Wilde (...) It’s his own tender screenplay, however, and a burnished combination of empathy and realism that makes the picture (...) a strongly cinematic statement"

Fionnuala Halligan: Screendaily
"Rupert Everett brings power and empathy to Oscar Wilde's gutter years (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

Tim Robey: Telegraph
"[A] moving and surprising biopic of Oscar Wilde (...) One of the most admirable aspects of 'The Happy Prince' is Everett’s refusal to provide a sanitised version of his subject"

Geoffrey Macnab: The Independent
"A flawed, yet worthwhile and deeply felt rendering of an artist at the very end of his tether (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

Trevor Johnston: Radio Times

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