Happy Monday readers! Ct and I are flying high on some Fake-Football wins and we are in need of a movie that won't bring us down. How fortunate then that CT has handed me Rupert Everett and I can follow him to The Importance of Being Earnest.
This is a movie based on an Oscar Wilde play so the level of wit and frankly snark is off the charts. Also it was Oscar Wilde's birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday, patron saint og Smart-Assery. To you we dedicate this humble blog post.
So while the film is not a strict adaptation, I can't help but love how it adhered to the source materials insistence on ridiculousness. We still get Lady Bracknell (played by Dame Judy Dench so everyone else can let that part go) quizzing her daughters boyfriend to see if he meets her standards to become a fiance. We still get Rupert Everett and Collin Firth insisting that they be re-christened with the name "Earnest" to impress their girlfriends. We still get a superbly over the top story about a baby being left at a train station. We just also get Collin and Rupert singing a ballad and Frances O'Connor getting a tattoo on her rear end because they ultimately add to the story of a bunch of rich people with far more money than sense.
The movie is also a delightful collection of period costumes. I know it's not the thing we always judge, but we are nerds and half of why we love a good period piece is the costumes. The dresses and suits in this tell their own story about each of the characters particularly through color and fabric choices. If you look this one up pay close attention to what Algy wears.
As with any Oscar Wilde story, the dialogue is half the fun. The observations about gender and relationships are biting and wonderful. I wanted to leave you with my favorite of these:
Jack: You don't think there's any chance of Gwendolyn becoming like her mother in about 150 years, do you Algy?
Algy: My dear fellow, all women become like their mothers, that's their tragedy. No man does, and that's his.
Happy Oscar Wilde Day everyone!
Little C
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