Watch The Importance of Being Earnest Online
Samedi, juillet 31st, 2010 |
Watch The Importance of Being Earnest Online.
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I consider THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST to be the funniest play in the English language, and the greatest comedy in the language not written by William Shakespeare. The play contains one hysterical line after another, and one brilliant comic situation after another. For anyone who has not seen or read the play, this movie version will be a very excellent introduction to it.
The cast is superb, and could hardly have been improved upon among today’s actors and actresses. Colin Firth is a natural to play Jack Worthing AKA Ernest, and Rupert Everett is utterly perfect as Algernon. Frances O’Connor, upon whom I must confess I have a gigantic crush, plays Gwendolyn, and Reese Witherspoon does a superb job portraying a young Englishwoman. Judi Dench hands in yet another strong performance as Lady Bracknell. The performances of all of these performers are completely satisfying.
Nevertheless, the movie fails to be the definitive film version of Wilde’s play. There are two reasons for this. The first is the presence of an earlier, stronger film. The second is a series of bad decisions made in the making of this film. Taking the second point first, this new film makes a number of embellishments and alterations in the Wilde play, most of which are not very successful and are more than a little distracting. For instance, much of the first scene of the play is relocated in a number of locations, including a brothel, instead of Algernon’s lodgings. Instead of arriving at Jack Worthing’s country estate by rail, Algernon arrives by hot air balloon (!) and Gwendolyn arrives by motorcar. There are a number of scenes in which Cecily imagines knights and nymphs that are quite grating. And, worst of all, Gwendolyn has “Ernest” tattooed on her buttocks, a rather absurd addition. None of these make the movie more enjoyable, and primarily serve as distractions. There are also several scenes with creditors chasing Algernon, attempting to collect debts. All could have been deleted and we would have been left with a stronger and more interesting movie.
The first mentioned obstacle to this becoming the definitive screen version is the 1952 film directed by Anthony Asquith. As good as the current cast is, the prior cast was, with only one exception, much stronger. Michael Redgrave was, I have to admit, a much better Jack Worthing than Colin Firth. And while I adore Frances O’Connor, Joan Greenwood was probably the best Gwendolyn one could possibly imagine. Anyone doubting this should do a line-by-line comparison between the two performances. Take just one line, when Gwendolyn says, “I have the gravest doubts upon the subject. But I intend to crush them.” O’Connor delivers the line excellently, but Greenwood, with her magnificent, deep, rich, plummy voice stretches the line out magnificently, caressing every syllable. Rupert Everett surpasses the performance of Michael Dennison as Algernon, and Reese Witherspoon comes close to matching Dorothy Tutin as Cecily, but not even the great Judi Dench can come close to Dame Edith Evans extraordinary performance as Lady Bracknell. The 1952 version also featured the inimitable and unforgettable Margaret Rutherford as Miss Prism and Miles Malleson as Rev. Chasuble.
The one way in which the newer film surpasses the earlier film is in making the entire affair feel more like a film than a filmed play. As fine as the Redgrave-Greenwood version was, it was pretty much a straight filming of the play, with very little in the way of deviation or departure. The new film makes considerable effort to be more dynamic visually and to break up the scenes so that it isn’t transparently Act One and Act Two and so forth.
I heartily recommend this new version of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, but I would also very strongly urge any lover of the play or this new film to seek out the earlier film. It may be more stagy and static, but the performances make it the definitive film version of this great play.
First off, the 3-star rating reflects a split opinion. The splendid cast deserves 4 stars, Alas, the film rates only 2 at best, and I’ll explain why.
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The problem is that writer-director Oliver Parker obviously doesn’t trust Wilde to be funny enough. So he tarts up Oscar’s masterpiece with some truly dumb interpolations (see below). Worse, he cuts out far too many choice Wildean bits to make room for this nonsense. (In fairness, some of these cut bits appear in the “Behind the Scenes” featurette.)
Chief among the interpolated idiocies are chase scenes (what is this, a Mack Sennett 2-reeler?); balloon rides; ragtime music; Gwendolyn getting her butt tattooed (while wearing fanny-floss panties — yeah, that’s really Victorian); Jack & Algy’s embarrassing minstrel act to woo the girls; far too many pseudo-Burne Jones medieval-symbolism shots; Lady B.’s scandalous past; and some wince-inducing attempts at witty dialogue that fit into Oscar’s glorious stuff about as well as a limerick would fit into Shakespeare.
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The cast cannot be faulted. Even when they’re badly directed (e.g., Lady B.’s climactic sappy grin — about as suitable to this quintessential tightass as the proverbial object floating in the proverbial punchbowl), the actors are marvelous. when allowed to do Wilde’s actual dialogue, they’re a joy to behold. Particularly worthy of note are Reese Witherspoon and Frances O’Connor, who are perfectly delectable as Gwendolyn & Cecily (no, not the Pigeon sisters, for all you Neil Simon fans). They effortlessly capture the worldly innocence and innocent worldliness of Wilde’s most beguiling heroines.
The sets, photography & costumes are magnificent. If only Parker had trusted his source material a bit more, this would be an undisputed classic instead of an enjoyable near-miss.
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