1
[Oscar] High above the city,
on a tall column,
stood the statue of the Happy Prince.
He was gilded all over
with thin leaves of fine gold.
For eyes, he had two bright sapphires,
and a large red ruby glowed
on his sword-hilt.
He was very much admired indeed.
One night, there flew over the city
a little swallow.
His friends had gone away to Egypt
six weeks before...
but he had stayed behind.
Where shall I...?
[Oscar, younger] All the next day,
he sat on the Prince's shoulder
and told him storeys of things
he had seen in strange lands.
Of the red ibises who stand
in long rows on the banks of the Nile...
and catch goldfish in their beaks.
[giggles]
Of the King of the Mountains of the Moon,
who is as black as ebony...
and worships a large crystal.
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow",
said the Happy Prince.
"You tell me of marvellous things.
But more marvellous than this...
is the suffering of men and women.
There is no mystery so great as suffering.
Fly over my city, little Swallow...
and tell me what you see there."
So the Swallow flew over the great city...
and saw the rich making merry
in their beautiful houses...
while the white faces of starving children
looked out listlessly
at the black streets.
At a table sat a broken man,
a bunch of withered violets by his side.
He was a writer.
But he was too cold to finish his play.
It's a dream.
[indistinct chatter in the background]
[French spoken in background]
I rather agree with you.
Absolutely extraordinary!
- It was very good bottle.
- Lovely place too!
I tell you what. When we're next in
London, will you come to the club? Hmm?
I'd love to! Which one?
- Um... The Carlton.
- Oh, marvellous!
- Never seen a man eat so...
- I...
- What is it, my dear?
- I, I think I left my fan.
Is she all right?
Mr Wilde!
Mr Wilde?
- Madam.
- Surely you remember me.
It's Mrs Arbuthnot.
[she laughs]
I came to all your first nights.
Of course, madam.
One never forgets such a face.
How kind of you to speak to me.
- You are well, I see.
- Very well, sir.
- How are you?
- Oh...
[man] Lydia! Come here immediately!
I have to go.
You couldn't lend me 5, could you?
Things are a little tight at present.
I feel ghastly asking like this but...
- [man] Lydia!
- I'm coming!
[emotionally] Mr Wilde, I...
I... just wish...
Never wish, madam. It might come true.
But thank you... for a moment's harmony
in a discordant fugue.
Go back to Jeffrey at once.
[whimpering]
If you ever speak to my wife again,
I'll kill you. Do you hear me?
[inaudible over applause]
[clears throat, then coughs]
[groans]
[breathing heavily]
[sighs]
[groans]
Five pounds.
See, see, my Christ blood streams
through the firmament.
[coughing]
[speaks French]
[man in French] I'm coming.
[crying]
[speaks French]
[sighs]
[scoffs]
[groans and mumbles]
[thudding upstairs, woman moans]
[thudding stops, man and woman laugh]
[speaks English] Shrouded in the symphony
of adjacent copulation.
Ow!
[speaks French] Thanks.
For that.
[Oscar groans and coughs]
[speaks French] Sit down.
[shouts]
[speaks French] My dear Boudicca.
[sings in French]
[music stops, cheering]
[inaudible]
[speaks French] Please!
[coughs and groans]
Garon.
[speaks French] Very well, sir.
[speaks French] And for you, sirs?
[sings in French]
[sings in French]
- [high-pitched] Ooh, Maurice.
- [Jean laughs]
- [Oscar] Maurice! Maurice!
- [inaudible]
Maurice!
Oscar!
[speaks French] Brother.
[crowd exclaims]
[Oscar speaks English] Shut up.
[applause]
[cheering]
[applause]
[sings in English] I'm a young girl
[crowd laughs]
And I just come over
Over from the country
Where they do things big
[piano]
And amongst the boys I've got a lover
And since I've got a lover
Well, I don't give a fig
[crowd laughing]
The boy I love
Is up in the gallery
The boy I love is looking down at me
There he is, can't you see?
Waving his handkerchief
As merry as a cricket
That lives on the leaf
[person in crowd whistles]
Now if I were a duchess
And had a lot of money
I'd give it to my Johnny
Who's going to marry me
But I haven't got a penny
So I'll live on love and kisses
And be just as happy
As the birds in the tree...
[all] The boy I love
Is up in the gallery
The boy I love is looking down at me
There he is, can't you see?
Waving his handkerchief
As merry as a cricket
That lives on the leaf
As merry as a cricket
That lives on the leaf
[whooping and cheering]
[thud, silence]
[sighs]
The actors...
have given a charming rendering
of a delightful play.
- Your appreciation is most intelligent.
- [laughter]
I congratulate you
on the success of your performance.
Which persuades me that you think
almost as highly of the play...
as I do myself.
[thud]
Oscar Wilde.
The crime of which
you have been convicted is so bad
that one has to put the sternest restraint
upon oneself
from describing the sentiments,
which must rise to the breast
of every man of honour.
It is no use to address you.
People who do these things must be dead
to all sense of shame.
I shall, under such circumstances,
be expected to pass
the severest sentence that the law allows.
The sentence of the court
is that you be imprisoned
and kept to hard labour for two years.
[sighs]
[door closes]
[man speaks French]
[man speaks French]
[man speaks French]
Robbie.
My lonely rider of the Apocalypse.
You took me into exile, dear boy.
Where will you take me now?
- [Robbie] I'm not taking you anywhere.
- What?
What ship? Ireland, you say?
No ships, Oscar.
I'm here in Paris. I have your allowance.
Oh, good. I have been dinnerless.
[sighs]
I'm in mortal combat
with this wallpaper, Robbie.
One of us has to go.
Maurice says you made
quite a scene last night.
It's more or less impossible
to make good scenes
in such reduced circumstances as mine.
But I believe I did my best.
Last night,
I dreamed I was dining with the dead.
You must've been
the life and soul of the party, Oscar.
- What is this?
- Morphia.
I am much distracted, dear boy.
I've had a very bad time lately.
For two days, not a penny in my pocket.
So I had to wander around,
filled with wild longings,
trapped in the circle of boulevards.
One of the worst in the Inferno.
[doctor] Jumping off tables at your age.
[Robbie] What do you think, doctor?
[doctor] The abscess has suppurated.
If things don't improve,
I'm afraid we'll have to operate.
I shall never forget your kindness
when I was released from prison.
What high hopes we had that day.
But I was doomed from the start.
[Oscar] Why does one run towards ruin?
[ship horn blaring]
Why does it hold such a fascination?
[indistinct chatter]
[ship horn blaring]
Oscar!
Robbie!
- Oscar.
- Robbie! [laughs]
- How are you?
- Where's Reggie?
He's waiting for us at the hotel.
He wanted to make sure there were no...
- What?
- Difficulties.
- Have you got everything?
- No.
I left Oscar Wilde at Newhaven.
And this is the last thing he wrote.
The great letter I told you about.
Make three copies,
send one to Bosie Douglas,
one to me and keep the original
under lock and key.
- Understood?
- Come.
[Oscar laughs]
[Oscar speaks French]
[door]
[footsteps]
[Robbie speaks English]
If anyone asks for your papers,
just say they're in your cabin trunk.
What?
Well, well, well.
Sebastian Melmoth.
- Reggie.
- What an absolute joy!
- Your first time in Dieppe, Sebastian?
- Sorry?
What fun.
Let me introduce you immediately
to our good friend, the manager.
- Melmoth, meet Monsieur Duroc.
- [speaks French].
Look after Mr Melmoth, would you?
Best room, and all that.
Well, I'll leave you to it. You lunching?
Er, yes, probably.
[speaks French]
- [Oscar] My favourite blue.
- [Robbie] The case is from Reggie.
[Oscar gasps]
And here's 800 we raised
while you were in prison.
No!
It'll keep you going until you begin
to work again. Uh! I'll look after this.
[door opens]
Reggie!
- Oh, darling Oscar.
- [Oscar groans]
[Oscar sobs]
How do you like your new name?
Almost as much as I loathe the old one.
[clock chiming]
Ah! Letters.
[Reggie] And look!
No exiled fairy's trousseau is complete
without a signed portrait
of the great widow herself.
You must dance naked before it
at the Jubilee next month.
- It's from him.
- [Robbie] Oscar?
I may as well tell you both now
that I fully intend
to effect a reconciliation with my wife.
If she will have me.
And rest assured, I shall never see
Lord Alfred Douglas again.
That part of my life is behind me.
- [porter speaks French]
- [Oscar speaks French]
[Oscar speaks English]
No, he was absolutely furious.
- [Reggie] Really?
- Come on, Oscar, that's simply not true.
[Oscar] That's the whole point.
From what you say, Oscar, it would seem
that Reading Gaol is an enchanted castle.
With the governor as its presiding elf.
Robbie...
- I met Christ in prison.
- And what was she in for?
Don't joke, Reggie.
In the cell, there is only God and man.
After three days in hell,
Jesus rose from the dead...
broke open his tomb,
discarded his cerements and took his place
forever in the heart of man.
After 700 days of hard labour,
my tomb is opened.
I have tiptoed to the boat train
and am born again,
through him, with him and in France.
Very good, Oscar.
We'll make a Catholic of you yet.
Only unlike dear Jesus, you have luggage.
And 800 to spend
before your ascension into heaven.
Or purgatory.
I'm afraid a delegation of 15 young poets
are arriving from Paris at the weekend
- to welcome you into exile.
- Oh.
- They're bringing a cheque.
- Oh, good.
All I'm saying, Reggie, dear, is I have
lived in the grip of vice and pleasure.
It was wrong and I have paid.
Perhaps the slate is wiped clean,
perhaps it is not, who knows?
At any rate,
I am now ready to return to life.
- [knocking at door]
- [Reggie] You coming down, Oscar?
[Robbie] I need to get my bathing things.
[Oscar]
Constance, my dear, good, beautiful wife.
There is nothing I can ever say that will
undo the great hurt I have caused you.
We both know that.
For two years, I have lain on hard boards,
knelt on cold stone, dined on shame
and thought of little else.
You and my sons are the only things
that tie me to life.
I don't know if...
[Oscar] Were it not for the hope
that one day I would meet you all again...
I don't think I could go on.
Good God.
[Oscar] My desire to live,
dearest Constance, is as intense as ever.
- [laughter]
- Oh, for God's sake.
[Oscar] And though my heart is broken,
hearts are made to be broken.
[speaks French]
Waiter, more champagne, please!
[Oscar speaks English] That is why
God sends sorrow to the world.
Write to me as soon as you can
and tell me that I am still your Oscar.
[raucous laughter and chatter]
[speaks French]
[chanting in French]
Speech! Speech! Speech!
Speech! Speech! [continues]
Speech! Speech!
[cheering]
[laughter]
[groaning]
[laughter]
[laughs]
[cheering]
[speaks French] No, to you!
You are really wonderful!
[speaks French] Wonderful!
[man in distance speaks English]
Come on, boys! Let's have him!
[man] Oh, shot!
[both speak French]
[laughter]
[man in English laughing] You can't bowl!
You just simply can't bowl!
[man #2] No, you can't.
Get away from me!
I don't want to catch anything.
[laughter]
[man] Er, coffee.
- Six caf au lait.
- [speaks French]
[speaks English] Go away.
Not wearing
your silk stockings today, Oscar?
- [effeminate voice] Darling boy.
- Yes, my Hyacinth.
Oh, remind me to change
the sheets today, darling boy.
Your slim, gilt cheeks
have left a shit stain all the way down
your side of the bed.
[wild laughter]
You go too far, sir!
No you go too far, madam.
Garon, there's a piece of shit
on the pavement. Get rid of it!
[Reggie] Oscar! There you are!
We're late. They're waiting for us.
[laughing]
Are you all right, Oscar?
No, not really.
Let's go back to the hotel.
[laughter continues]
Let's follow them.
- [whooping and cheering]
- [Robbie] Christ, they're following us.
Wait for me! I want to cover you in honey
and lick it off again!
This is intolerable.
This way.
[church bell ringing]
[men jeering and laughing]
Oh, look! Sticks, sticks!
[whooping and jeering]
- This is better than hunting!
- Come on!
- [church bell]
- [Robbie] Quick! A church!
[panting]
- What's the matter, Oscar?
- [students laugh]
[yells] What more do you want?
What more do you want?
Get your hands off me!
You've taken everything, you little shit!
Everything!
My family, my work, my freedom!
Everything!
There's nothing left to take!
What are you gonna do, kill me?
I'm already dead, you cunt!
Now, go!
The natural habitat of the hypocrite
is England.
Go back there, leave me in peace! Go!
[laughter resumes]
I didn't know you had it in you.
[panting] I don't.
I've nothing in me.
Not even fear.
[Oscar] With no warning,
I was transferred one afternoon
from Wandsworth to Reading Gaol.
In broad daylight, by train,
shackled to a warder
like a performing bear.
That journey was the most exquisite of
the tortures Her Majesty contrived for me.
At Clapham Junction,
we had to wait for a connexion.
Half an hour, my dears, on platform two.
Sadly, my public had not forgotten me.
[excited chatter]
At first, they simply giggled and pointed.
And then a man began to shout.
It's Oscar bleeding Wilde!
He paced up and down,
wagging his finger...
Backs to the wall, boys!
...as he catalogued my crimes
to his growing and spellbound audience.
We don't want any of that love,
but don't speak its moniker here!
At each twist,
they moaned and swayed as one...
spitting and screaming,
hungering for my blood.
And I...
I saw the future.
It was the end of all peace.
I shall see it on my deathbed.
[both speak French]
Oh, dear. It's from the Chief of Police.
You read it.
It seems he's to be deported
if his behaviour doesn't improve.
Our celebration of young French poets
didn't go down very well in the voisinage.
Well, for God's sake, don't tell him now.
In his current mood,
he's likely to set fire to the hotel.
Thank Christ I'm leaving tomorrow.
Be careful, Robbie.
He'll eat you.
Can't help it.
Goodnight, dear boy.
[speaks French]
[Robbie] I read your letter from prison.
It's really rather marvellous.
You should call it De Profundis.
Well, it was written from the depths.
Bosie will probably try to kill you
when he reads it.
I wrote some harsh letters to you, Robbie.
I'm sorry.
- You wrote harsh letters to us all.
- I know.
It's hard to explain the feeling...
of utter impotence
and desperation in there.
One becomes a Fury.
One never speaks.
One simply weeps and has diarrhoea.
Result: lunacy.
Do you forgive me?
Who'd have thought that afternoon we met,
fifteen years ago, that here we'd be?
Lepers dining under a full moon
in a foreign hotel.
It's quite romantic, in a way.
Except that you, dear boy,
are not a leper.
Tomorrow morning, you will blow away
on the sea breeze, destination Dover.
As to who would've thought...
We met in a public lavatory, Bobby dear.
And we ended up here.
You wouldn't have to be the Sybil
of Mortimer Street to join the dots.
I was going to a matinee.
And I was going to my club.
A different corner, a minute later...
another play and who knows,
perhaps I should be the poet laureate,
but I doubt it.
Intimacy in the sewers,
followed by fantasy in the Gods.
The rest is silence.
[humming]
[Oscar] He did not wear his scarlet coat
For blood and wine are red
And blood and wine were on his hands
When they found him with the dead
The poor dead woman whom he loved
And murdered in her bed
[chuckles]
Superb.
As the boys' guardian,
I can't impress upon you too strongly
my alarm at your being in contact
with your husband at all.
- Mrs Holland.
- Mrs Wilde.
Constance.
We have been friends for many years.
I am the executor
of your grandfather's estate.
- You must trust us. Please sign.
- [boys shouting outside]
[bangs window]
Cyril and Vyvyan, stop fighting!
Be extremely cautious
when you reply to his letter.
I feel sure that if I was to see him once,
I would forgive him everything.
Precisely, my dear, and then you would be
stuck here in Heidelberg forever.
We may go to Genoa in the spring.
A surgeon there thinks he might be able
to do something for my wretched back.
You must wait.
[Mr Howard] Think of your children.
He must prove to you that he will change,
that he can.
[Oscar] Since you left,
I've been completely alone.
[Robbie] Oscar, that's simply not true.
My wife has written me a revolting letter,
in which she tells me that perhaps
she will see me at some later date,
but not in the foreseeable future,
and the boys probably never.
Quite frankly, Oscar,
I'm amazed you should imagine
that Constance
would want to see you at all.
You wrote her one letter
full of your usual perfumed shit
and you suppose everything
you've put her through
for the past few years
can simply be forgotten.
Robbie, if you've come here to upset me,
I suggest you return to Dieppe
where you'll find a train that leaves at
three minutes past the hour, every hour.
I'm not here to upset you, Oscar.
I just want you to be reasonable.
Bosie, whom you all deplore,
at least offers to help me.
Oh, really? How, Oscar?
How is Bosie gonna help you?
Bosie loves me, Robbie.
In a way that you could never understand.
At any rate, he's coming here next week.
Then you will never see Constance again!
You seem to forget, Oscar,
that despite everything you've put her
through, she still allows you 4 a week.
That 4, Oscar, is dependant
upon Bosie's absence from your life.
But doubtless he'll settle money on you
when he gets here,
if his mother's given him any.
[yells] I'm all alone! I have no one!
Why are you being so harsh?
You have me, Oscar! I am here!
But it's not enough, is it?
Why is it not enough, Oscar?
Well, frankly, my dear...
you're not really grand enough
and you're certainly not rough enough.
Let's get a drink, for God's sake.
And don't be cross, Robbie.
You weren't built for rage.
I went on the most marvellous pilgrimage
yesterday to Notre-Dame de Liesse.
Did you know liesse
is the mediaeval word for happiness?
- [Robbie] No, I didn't.
- Well, it is.
I go there every day.
It takes all of ten minutes to get to it
and just as many to get back.
The priest, who is charming
and terribly attractive,
has become a great friend.
Yesterday, he showed me all his vestments.
He looked particularly captivating
in his martyr's garb.
Rose dore streaked with blood.
[groans]
[gulls in distance]
[snoring]
[door]
[priest prays in French]
[continues praying in French]
[continues praying]
[Oscar speaks English] You see, Robbie.
Suffering is nothing when there is love.
Love is everything.
[indistinct chatter]
[whispering] Bosie.
The boy I love
Is up in the gallery
The boy I love is looking down at me
There he is, can't you see...
- [Bosie] Oscar.
- [Oscar] Waving his handkerchief
As merry as a cricket
That lives on the leaf
[sobbing]
Oh, come on, Oscar,
it's not like you to have nothing to say.
Oscar.
Oh, Bosie!
- Come on.
- [Oscar sobs]
- It's all right.
- [sobs]
Come on.
Come on, let's sit down.
[train whistle blaring]
[laughter turns to crying]
- It's all right, shh.
- Oh, thank you.
Oh, how are you?
[laughter continues]
[Oscar] Oh, Bosie,
it is so lovely to see you!
- Oh, you too.
- Anyway, that night...
Bosie, about that letter
I sent you from prison.
I never got it. What did it say?
Oh. Nothing much. Huh.
It was just my testament.
De Profundis.
Oh, Oscar, you silly old fairy. Come here.
I am my own Judas.
I need a drink.
[clears throat] Come on.
- What are your plans?
- What plans can I have?
The doom of Melmoth
is to wander the earth,
seeking shelter where he can.
- [Oscar] I may go south.
- [Bosie] Naples.
- See it and die.
- If only it were that simple.
- Have you written anything?
- Mm.
A ballad about prison.
It's almost finished.
Rather good, actually.
Oscar, let's run away.
Somewhere no one could find us.
Naples, in fact.
[whispering] Dear boy,
you don't know what you're saying.
I'm starving. Let's order, for God's sake.
[Train rumbles past]
Why do we huddle without the city walls
at a station hotel?
[speaks French]
[speaks French]
[speaks English]
Because I am a ruined man...
if you came with me to Naples,
the world would become a picture
you could look at but never touch.
Do you love me that much, Bosie?
But anyway, we have no money.
Oh, money. Oscar, for Christ's sake,
my mother's got masses.
[Oscar chuckles]
[Bosie laughs] What are you laughing at?
Nothing. Just something Robbie said.
Robbie's been against me
since the day we met. He's...
riddled with jealousy.
Robbie loves me, Bosie.
In a way that you could never understand.
Shall we take a room?
Hmm?
[train whistle blaring]
[Oscar] My going back to Bosie
was psychologically inevitable.
I cannot live
without the atmosphere of love.
"I must love and be loved,
whatever the price I pay for it."
[train whistle continues]
[Oscar] I dare say
what I have done is fatal.
I love him as I always did.
With a sense of tragedy and ruin.
[distant screaming]
- [Bosie] Oscar!
- Oh, God.
- [screaming] Oscar!
- Bosie?
[Bosie] Listen to me, you little...
It's under my chair, it's under my chair!
There it is! Get it! [Bosie screams]
It's behind the cupboard! Get it!
Oscar, there are fucking rats everywhere!
- For God's sake, Bosie, calm down.
- It was in the fucking bed, Oscar!
Kill it! Kill it!
[Oscar] It's only a rat,
don't worry about it.
Bosie, you're completely hysterical.
Get that fucking thing away from me.
You keep that fucking away from me!
[speaks Italian]
[speaks English] This place is
fucking ridiculous! Fucking ridiculous!
[Constance groans]
I forbid it. I forbid him
to live with that infernal man.
- There was nothing anyone could do.
- Well, I shall not pay his allowance.
- You can tell him when you see him.
- That's unlikely, madam.
I've resigned as his literary executor.
He doesn't know you're here, I presume.
He does not.
Why do you mind so much?
They told me to be wary of you, Mr Ross.
They say you can't be trusted.
But we're the same, you and I.
He's hurt you too, hasn't he?
Oscar destroyed himself
and everyone around him.
Look at me, Mr Ross. Just look at me.
He's killed me.
Someone walking over my grave.
[Oscar] Our dear friend, the witch,
is coming back on Friday
to finish things off.
[Bosie] Oh, God.
But her spells and smells
appear to have worked.
- [Bosie] About time.
- The good news is there are no more rats.
The bad news is
my allowance is being cut off.
[speaks Italian]
[speaks English] Do you always have
to talk about money during lunch?
Obviously, I should prefer to discuss
serving techniques with our waiter.
We must make some sort of plan, Bosie.
I came here at your invitation.
You said you had funds, you do not.
I accept that.
Why should a perfectly divine leopard
change its spots?
But the fact remains we have, what, 6?
Five.
I had to pay last week's rent up.
Careful, his mother is watching.
Yes, and she's thrilled.
Don't be such a bore.
Oscar, what's happened to you?
- We have 6 a week from my mother.
- [sighs]
We have 100
for the libretto you will never write.
We have studs and cuff-links,
friends and relations,
and, above all, we still have each other.
[cork pops]
One of us could eat the other
and make a tent of the hide.
For God's sake, stop worrying.
[speaks Italian]
[speaks English] You always talk to boys
as though they were blood stock.
You should tell them to lift their hoofs
and open their mouths.
And then thrash 'em.
I need to make sure
they don't fall at the first fence.
[all singing in Italian]
[tuts, taps skin]
Go on, dear, fuck him.
[birds chirping]
[Oscar] Oh.
Isn't it beautiful?
You see? I can make you happy.
Yes.
You can.
No more anxiety.
No more ambition. No time.
Just now.
Fisherman diving for pearls.
An old sheep with his butcher.
A bobbing boat on a silver sea.
And scandal...
just a small black dot...
against the edge of dawn.
[no sound except wind]
[Oscar] Yet each man kills the thing
he loves
By each, let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering word
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword
It's finished
Some kill their love when they are young
And some when they are old
Some strangle with the hands of Lust
Some with the hands of Gold
The kindest use a knife, because
The dead so soon grow cold
Some love too little, some too long
Some sell and others buy
Some do the deed with many tears
And some without a sigh
For each man kills the thing he loves
Yet each man does not die
[Oscar] Oh, look, here we go. Bosie.
[shouting in Italian]
[speaks English]
Is Father all alone in the hospital?
No, of course not, darling.
At Christmas,
all the patients have a party.
[laughing and whooping]
[stops playing]
[chanting in Italian]
[resumes playing piano]
Good King Wenceslas last looked out
On the Feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
- Brightly shone the moon that night...
- [door opens, woman shouts]
[baby crying]
Felice!
Huh?
[baby crying]
- [baby crying]
- [speaks Italian]
[laughter]
[Constance speaks English]
This one's from Papa.
[Cyril] Vyvyan doesn't know who Papa is.
Yes, I do!
[Felice shouting in Italian]
[Oscar speaks English]
What an earth is going on?
One can run up a bill for everything
in this swamp except sex, it seems.
There's never credit where love is
concerned, Bosie. You should know that.
[speaks Italian]
[Oscar sighs]
- [Bosie yells]
- [speaks English] No, no! Right, stop it!
Be silent! Stop!
- Oh, what bollocks.
- I said be quiet!
[speaks Italian]
[Bosie speaks English]
What the hell did you give him that for?
A foolish question, I know.
- Why didn't you just pay him?
- With what?
[sighs] Money.
I haven't got any.
What do you mean, you haven't got any?
Well?
- My mother has stopped my allowance.
- What? When did this happen?
Oh, Christ!
I was waiting
for the right moment to tell you.
In the meantime, you imagined
that wretched boy would fuck you for fun.
- And why not?
- Oh, your vanity is extraordinary.
The only person who ever fucked you
for fun was me,
and look where it got me, the dock.
- [Bosie] What?
- Nothing.
So, that's it, then!
We appear to have come
to the end of the road.
- We're penniless.
- Well, not exactly.
Oh?
You could have 200
and I could keep my allowance.
If?
[Bosie] Well...
You see, what mama and the family
really can't stomach
is the fact that we live together.
She says that if we agree to separate,
then she will reinstate my allowance
and very generously, I think,
give you a substantial...
Tip!
For services rendered...
to the family.
Will I get a good reference?
Can I keep my cottage?
God, you all make me sick!
And your sanctimonious mother
thinks I can be bought off for 200.
Your family has destroyed me,
stripped me of everything!
Not least my genius.
And all for 200!
Genius?
- You destroyed yourself, Oscar!
- Oh, fuck off!
Because underneath the pose,
there was no substance!
One good comedy,
three pot-boiling melodramas
and those ridiculous
fucking fairy storeys.
That's all you find when you scrape away
the powder and the pancake.
Your success was interesting,
your hunger for it perversely fascinating,
but you, my dear... never were.
You found me interesting
when you were faced with blackmail!
Oh, you were in your element.
You saw the green baize door swing open
and you scuttled through it.
You are talking drivel. My father...
Was a drunken groper
with dirty fingernails, just like his son.
Whereas your father
is an assassin at large!
Oh, come on, Oscar, you're still alive.
Barely.
For God's sake, stop acting.
[softly] It's strange.
I've never really looked at you before.
I gave you my whole life.
And now I see it before me,
daubed in shit.
I'll write to you when I get to Rome.
Where will you be?
I've really no idea.
I suppose I may as well stay here
till the lease runs out.
Then I shall probably go to Paris.
Who knows?
At any rate, we'll be in touch.
Dear boy, do you mind awfully
if I don't wait?
I'm not really built for waving
pocket handkerchiefs at parting trains.
[Oscar] I'm too big!
[indistinct chatter in French]
[groans]
Hello, Oscar.
Constance.
Is that you?
Where's Lord Alfred?
Has he left?
- Are you quite alone now?
- [stammers]
Where are the boys?
Must get on.
Such a long way to go.
Constance...
- We never meant...
- I loved you so much.
Always.
It's odd, isn't it?
[Constance]
The boy I love is up in the gallery
- The boy I love is looking down at me
- [bell rings]
[fading] There he is, can't you see
[Oscar speaks Italian, clears throat]
[crying]
[indistinct chatter in French]
[man speaks French]
- [man speaks French]
- Hmm?
[speaks French]
[speaks French]
- [speaks French]
- Hmm.
[speaks French]
[speaks French]
[speaks French]
[speaks English] My pleasure, Mr Melmoth.
Mmm.
[speaks French]
[Leon counting in French]
[Oscar groans]
[counting continues]
[counting continues]
Hmm...
[speaks French]
[speaks French]
Ah!
[chuckles]
[Oscar speaks French]
[both speak French]
[Oscar sings in French]
[singing in French continues]
[woman sings in French]
[singing in French continues]
[humming]
[speaks English] Robbie!
Stop a minute, please!
Oscar.
"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania."
[chuckling] Yes, dear boy, it is I.
Why are you sitting in the rain?
I've spent all my ready cash on youth
and beauty and I cannot pay.
- Please help me.
- Let's go inside.
[groans]
[Oscar] Like dear St Francis,
I am wedded to poverty.
Only in my case,
the marriage is not a success.
Robbie, you are naughty.
How long have you been here?
- [speaks French]
- [speaks English] Twelve francs!
- God, Oscar.
- It's been a long day.
- Do you have 12 francs for me or not?
- Yes, of course.
[speaks French]
[speaks English]
Once again, I am in your debt.
[speaks French]
[chuckles] [speaks English]
Dear Robbie, I've missed you so much.
Almost a year of punitive silence.
Naples was, as you so accurately
predicted, a disaster.
I know I'm always asking for it...
but do I have your forgiveness?
Forgiveness is for amateurs and you,
dear Oscar, are a professional masochist.
Ooh! [chuckles]
It's stopped raining.
- I'll take you home.
- Oh, dear boy, so cruel. What?
Let us not squabble
like two disgruntled housemaids.
Let us rather black our grace with
a light-hearted chatter about our betters.
Bosie, we hear, has come into 20,000.
He arrives next week.
I thought I might touch him
for a tiny pourboire.
How long are you here, Robbie?
I'm joining my mother in Menton
on Tuesday.
More paraffin injections.
How lovely.
You should take Oscar.
He looks like a rotten egg in aspic.
What happened?
I was poisoned by a moule last week
when Robbie arrived.
- I've had mysterious skin ever since.
- Leprosy, I expect.
Oh, thank you, my dear. But let us talk
about more cheerful things.
Your father's death, for example.
How did it go?
Without a hitch, for the most part.
In and out of consciousness.
As in life.
My brother, Percy, went to see him
just before the end.
- Father opened his eyes and spat at him.
- Queensbury rules.
Well, I, at least,
have outlived my nemesis.
Although I'm more or less
starving at the moment.
Shovelling down lobster Newberg.
A magnificent treat,
and, at the moment, sadly all too rare.
Bosie dear, this brings me rather neatly
to an awkward point.
Oscar, do not ask me for money.
I have absolutely none spare.
Dear boy, you've just inherited 20,000.
Surely, you don't wish
to see me on the street.
As you're behaving like an old prostitute,
Oscar, perhaps that's where you belong.
- For God's sake, Bosie.
- Keep out of this, Robbie.
- This has nothing to do with you.
- Unfortunately, it has.
Since Oscar threw in his lot with you in
Naples, he's been cut adrift by everyone.
Constance has died, his sons
have been taken away from him,
his so-called friends have deserted him
and now you, who owe him everything,
turn your back.
I am sick and tired of being blamed
for the self-inflicted wounds
of a gluttonous snob!
I'm not my lover's keeper!
If he wants to eat, he should work!
- Oscar, what have you written recently?
- Ah, the pudding trolley.
I see your little eyes light up.
What shall we have?
Robbie, you'll burst a haemorrhoid.
It was only a passing thought.
- Like all your work.
- You disgust me, Bosie!
Do you suppose I care?
I asked you a question, Oscar.
Does the flame still burn?
No, it doesn't, does it?
So I'm supposed to keep you in luxury
while you stumble about
the boulevard begging for drinks.
Christ!
Some of us have to work!
Come along.
Reggie will be here when you wake up,
and I'll be back in no time.
- Have you told Bosie?
- I haven't seen him since that lunch.
But you must. If something happens.
It won't.
Is it really necessary, Doctor Tucker?
I feel perfectly well, you know.
We shall be as quick as we can.
[Oscar groans in pain]
[Oscar screams]
- [speaks French]
- [Oscar yells]
[screaming]
[coughing]
[speaks English] Oscar, you old fraud.
You look perfectly well.
I know. Can you believe it?
Once poisonous moule four months ago and
I've been in and out of bed ever since.
[groans]
Dear boy, behind the commode,
you will find a bottle of Champagne.
Open it.
Let us drink to your arrival. Hmm?
[Reggie] Shouldn't really.
Of course we shouldn't.
You've crossed the water
for a treasured friend.
There are glasses under the bed.
[groans]
You poor darling.
But I hear you're writing a new play.
Yes, in a way.
Robbie has left me some divine notebooks
in which to scribble beautiful thoughts.
But unfortunately...
I haven't had any this year.
Mmm.
I will tell you a terrible secret.
And don't tell Robbie,
please, Reggie, there's a dear.
I have sold the play
to three different individuals.
And I haven't written a single word.
Rather clever, don't you think?
There's nothing like an Irish beggar
when he gets into his stride.
What will you do
when the times comes to deliver it?
[sighing] Oh.
Die.
I am...
paralysed by dark thoughts.
Sometimes I wonder.
Is it a moule?
It could be something else.
Oh, God.
Reggie, why did Constance die?
Why have I become so mad?
My brain is crashed and shattered.
Is this...?
Syphilis.
What?
Do you see the hell in which I live?
Robbie wants me to write a play,
but I am wrestling with my soul.
- Reggie, I cannot write a play!
- Of course you can.
Now come on, Oscar,
pull yourself together!
The doctor says, within a few days,
we'll be able to take you out for a drive.
We're going to have a lovely time.
I can't think what happened last week.
My whole life was a blur.
[indistinct chatter]
- [speaks French]
- [speaks English] Very well.
- [speaks French]
- [Reggie speaks English] Oscar!
Oh, Reggie, fuck off!
One last drink before I die.
I've been teaching Maurice English,
but he is much more fluent
in the language of love.
[chatter and laughter]
- [Maurice] Oscar!
- Can I have a scarf, please?
Thank you very much.
Oh, it's freezing!
[Oscar shrieks]
Get off!
- Reggie, I didn't know you cared.
- Off they come.
Oh, God, Reggie! [groans]
- [Maurice counts in French]
- [Oscar speaks English] Careful of my ear.
Can you pull me up a bit more, dear boy?
[grunts]
[sneezes]
- [knocking at door]
- Who can that be at this hour?
[Reggie]
Christ, are we to be spared nothing?
[speaks English] You see, Reggie,
more creditors to add to our list.
I am dying beyond my means.
[groans]
- Hmm?
- [pats the bed]
Reggie, turn down the gaslight, would you?
[coughing]
[speaks English]
He had just enough strength
to fly up to
the Prince's shoulder once more.
"Goodbye, dear Prince", he murmured.
"I'm glad you're going to Egypt,"
said the Happy Prince.
[speaks English] The disciples sleep.
[hushed] The end is nigh.
- [sneezes]
- [theatre audience laughs]
Was the cause of death mentioned?
A severe chill, it seems!
[audience laughs]
As a man sows, so shall he reap.
Will the... internment take place here?
No! He seems to have expressed
the desire to be buried in Paris.
- Come home soon, Father.
- Tomorrow.
And tomorrow and tomorrow.
- Oscar.
- Oh, Reggie.
[hushed] Look. The boys.
Which boys? Maurice? Bosie?
I'm sorry.
I'm awfully sorry.
So many broken hearts.
And they will have to live with it
forever and ever and ever and ever.
[sobs] World without end.
[speaks French]
[speaks English]
Yesterday, she decided I was a waiter.
- And today?
- I don't know.
Hasn't spoken. Listen.
The doctor said
he can't last more than 48 hours.
- Have you called a priest?
- No, should I?
Well, I will, then.
I must tell you, Father, the dying man has
been quite a well-known literary figure.
Oh, well, that's all one and the same
to God, Mr Ross.
He has very little time to read,
what with all us sinners clogging up
the road to hell.
Well, what is the name of this friend
of yours who comes home so late,
and yet is so thirsty
for the sacred blood of our Lord?
- Oscar Wilde.
- Oh, Jesus Christ!
[stammers] Well, I...
Has Mr Wilde expressed
a desire for extreme unction?
Most certainly.
While he could still speak.
Has been received? Is he not a Protestant?
He was meant to be a Catholic.
Oh! No...
[Robbie weeps]
Don't...
Don't worry, my son.
Don't worry, don't worry, Mr Ross.
Don't... We'll sort something out.
I've got everything here we'll need.
Unless, of course,
um... exorcism is required.
That's, that's my little joke.
- Ah, well, we're in time.
- [speaks French]
[speaks English] Good evening,
Mr Dupoirier. We missed you on Sunday.
Oscar, can you hear me?
This is Father Dunn.
[whispering] Reggie, move!
Father Dunn is willing to receive you
into the church and give you absolution.
But you need to sit up and pay attention.
Now, now, Mr Ross.
Between the stirrup and the ground,
there's always time
for an act of contrition.
There's no need to hurry.
[clears throat]
Thank you.
Good evening, Mr Wilde.
My name is Father Cuthbert Dunn.
Now, I'm going to say
a few simple things to you, but I need...
I need to know that you understand them.
A little sign will do.
That's very good. Let us kneel and pray.
In the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Father...
look with pity on your servant, Oscar.
Absolve him of his sins.
And Mr Wilde, examine your conscience.
There are no secrets between God and man.
Talk to him.
Where did you lose sight
of our blessed Lord?
Clapham Junction.
[steam train rattling]
[inaudible]
[Father Dunn] Jesus Christ was nailed
to the cross in Golgotha
so that our sins might be forgiven.
[groaning]
I baptise you in the name of the Father...
and of the son and of the Holy Ghost.
Though I walk
through the valley of death...
and raise my eyes to the hills...
whence cometh my delight.
That was beautiful, wasn't it?
- We're so grateful.
- Ah, no, not at all.
But it is a great privilege
to meet such a distinguished author.
If you need me, our friend, Mr Dupoirier,
knows where to find me.
[Reggie] It's going to be a beautiful day.
[Oscar groans]
[groaning faintly]
[old woman] Do go on, Mr Wilde.
[Oscar] So they pulled down
the statue of the Happy Prince.
"As he is no longer beautiful,
he is no longer useful,"
said the Art professor at the University.
And they melted the statue in a furnace.
"What a strange thing," said the overseer
of the workmen at the foundry.
"This broken lead heart will not melt.
They must throw it away."
So they threw it on a dust heap,
where the dead Swallow was also lying.
[Latin prayer]
[crying]
[prayer continues]
[crying]
For Christ's sake, Bosie, shut up!
You can't understand, Robbie,
but how could you?
- Understand what?
- The sort of love that Oscar and I shared.
You've never shared anything with anybody.
You're too fucking selfish.
Robbie.
- Where were you when he was dying?
- Here we go.
You could never accept the fact
that Oscar loved me and not you.
Because he didn't, did he?
However hard you tried.
And how you tried.
Bosie!
- Fuck!
- [Reggie] For Christ's sake, Bosie!
[Bosie] You're a second-rate prole!
You know what Oscar thought about you?
He thought you were a useful bore!
When history looks back,
it won't be at you!
It will be at him and me!
You'll just be a footnote,
you dreary little cunt!
[Oscar] "Bring me
the two most precious things in the city",
said God to one of his angels.
And the angel brought him
the leaden heart and the dead bird.
"You have rightly chosen", said God.
"For in my garden of paradise,
this little bird shall sing forever.
And in my city of gold,
the Happy Prince shall praise me."
[audience] Author! Author! Author! Author!
It's a dream.
[drum roll]
[cymbals crash]
[sings in French]
[all sing in French]
[singing continues]
[cheering and applause]
[singing in French continues]
[singing ends]