Rupert Everett shines as Wilde`s alter ego.

Oliver Parker has pruned Wilde`s play to perfectly fit the screen.

The scene is London in the last decade of last century... Jeremy Northam plays Sir Robert the ideal husband of Lady Gertrude (Cate Blanchett). He`s a highly respected member of parliament who, in a few days time faces a crucial vote about the construction of a canal in Argentina... Sir Robert is put completely off balance by the return to London of a Mrs. Cheverly (Julianne Moore) who attempts to blackmail him into support for the project. She has evidence of a shady past which could ruin his career and his marriage... Sir Robert`s best friend, the bon vivant Lord Arthur Goring (Rupert Everett) who has a wicked way with words becomes involved in the artfully constructed plot to save his friend...

Oliver Parker who made the rather dreary adapation of Othello a few years ago has pruned Wilde`s play to perfectly fit the screen. It`s a delicious, bubbling triumph of the word over explosions and car crashes. Rupert Everett is just wonderful as Wilde`s alter ego, a man from whose lips spill the most entertaining epigrams... the whole cast is spot on except perhaps for Julianne Moore and Minnie Driver who plays Sir Robert`s sister Mabel who`s in love with Lord Arthur... the design is terrific, as are the costumes, there`s a really entertaining texture to the film which has been directed in a more natural style rather than in an arch way. I had such a good time with this film.

David`s Comments
Oscar Wilde`s magnificent play has been rather pared down in Oliver Parker`s cinematic adaptation which boasts a really fine cast. Jeremy Northam is very smooth as Sir Robert, the ideal husband with a shady past; Cate Blanchett seizes another great role as his wife; Julianne Moore is wonderful as the blackmailing Mrs. Chevely and Rupert Everett has all the best lines (and what wonderful lines) as Lord Arthur. Only Minnie Driver is less than excellent.