In a cheap hotel in Paris, famous poet and writer Oscar Wilde is one step before his death and wildly recollects on his past.
He was once the most famous man in London. He examines several aspects of his lifetime. Focusing on the failed attempt to reconcile with his long-time wife, but mainly the retaliation he suffered for his love affair with another man, Lord Alfred Douglas. An affair that led him to his tragic fall.
The story takes place in 1897, when Oscar Wilde got released from prison. Just after two years of hard work while being imprisoned. His sentence was forced punishment for the -then- crime of "great recklessness". The illegal for those times engagement in homosexual sex.
Falling from his throne of fame and recognition, Wilde was forced to leave London. His erotic choices threw him from the peak of his glory to the exile of France. That's where he lived for the last three years of his life. Broken, broke, sick and abandoned by most of his former "high" circle, Oscar Wilde lost everything in his life. He drifted away and died inside the cheap hotel room he rented in Paris. At the time of his death he was only 46 years old.
The title "The happy prince" seems ironic. It comes from a story by Wilde himself. But this film literally records not the happiness, but the misery experienced by the poet and renewned author in his final years, days and hours. Based on his true story. A true human tragedy.
"The happy prince" is the first directing attempt by the famous actor Rupert Everett. A project that took him 10 years to complete and in which he is starring, directing and writing the script. Also starring are: Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas and Emily Watson. The film is rated R+18, only for adult audiences.
