The Importance of Being Oscar
Oscar Wilde's glittering and controversial career before his trial for homosexual crimes and tragic fall from grace are shown in a BBC movie with a lot of big names in it. Some of Oscar Wilde's best comedies, like "The Importance of Being Earnest," and stories, like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Canterville Ghost," have been turned into plays and performed by Freddie Fox, Claire Skinner, Anna Chancellor, and James Fleet, among others. Experts and Wilde fans, such as Stephen Fry, Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland, and his most recent biographers, give enlightening accounts of how his own life influenced his writing. His Irish roots, his early career, his marriage, and how important women and men were in his life all come together to create a complex and compelling portrait and celebration of a man who is too often reduced to a stereotype.