The Importance of Being Earnest Review

The Importance of Being Earnest Review
Screenwriters and Film directors often have to make some changes to a literary work in their film adaptations, just as is the case with Oliver Parker in directing ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde. These changes could have been adopted by the intention to have the dialogue trimmed, adapting the setting to a modern audience, or even distinguishing the production from previous adaptations of the same work.
Parker remains faithful to the original script mostly, but the changes incorporated arose from the necessity to have the film achieve reasonable length. He does this by taking some of the scenes and having them spread over multiple locations, such as when Algernon and Jack interact at Jack’s home instead of a nightclub initially. Most of the dialogues, however, remain intact though the setting of the film changes and some scenes shortened such as when Lady Bracknell asked Jack to pass by her place the following day (Hunt N.p). It is highly likely that Parker thought that such an interrogative scene would rather happen there to make more meaningful sense than at Algernon’s home.
Many characters (and their traits) in the film adaptation reflect those in the original script by Wilde except a few. While Jack is 35 years old in the film, Wilde’s text depicts him as 29, probably because the age selected was closer to the role’s actor, Colin Firth. The players are featured entirely in their roles, like Firth acting all “charming but quirky” (Hunt N.

p). Algernon character too is played out well, though it would have been discerning for Grant to act it out so that their affair from their previous films could be reprised. Extraordinary casting by the actors is simply fantastic, leaving the audience amazed, such as Rupert Everett’s prowess.
The director introduces some scenes that were not in Wilde’s final script, such as the identification “of Algernon’s servants” popping champagne rather than just “drinking and playing some music” in Algernon’s absence in the original text (Hunt N.p). There was also an intentional trimming of the scene where the bill collector came to deliver the unpaid bills for dinner for Ernest. A restoration of “The Gribsby Episode” makes Parker’s adaptation of the original concept by Wilde marvelous (Hunt N.p). The film is an accurate reflection of the hypocrisy, societal differences, and shallowness that evidenced the nineteenth century British Empire.
Works Cited
Hunt, Ryan. “Oliver Parker’s Film Adaptation Of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest.” Victorianweb.Org, 2016, http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/hunt2.html.