|
Oliver Parker has confirmed with his 1999 adaptation of An Ideal Husband and now with this, a fresh vision of Oscar Wilde's flightiest and most popular stage confection, his essential aspiration to present a literary adaptation as something light, frolicsome, accessible, and, most of all, fun. He prefers the glitzy and glamorous visual ploys of cinema to the stagy professionalism of theater, and it's certainly this key preference that has earned his productions an automatic freedom from the arthouse market. Now, whether Parker's latest rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest upholds the traditional Wildeian spirit of class study is a question up to debate, what with all its anachronistic flourishes and perhaps excessively playful embellishments on the scenery, ranging from a misplaced 1920's soundtrack to a goofy and eager-to-please dramatization of one maiden's grandiose romantic fantasies of a knight in shining armor. After all, how much spicing up does Wilde really need? All the same, though, the well-assembled cast seems to be having a blast with the material, and their performances, with the aid of the entire stylized lacquer of the film, manage to transcend (or at least sidestep) the strictures of cynical social satire and elevate the viewer's interest to the prospect of, yes indeed, pleasant, witty fun. |
|
The Importance of Being Earnest |
|
capsule review by André de Alencar Lyon |
|
Oliver Parker |
