Ten years ago, when R21 film ratings without cuts didn’t exist, and Jude Law was a happily-married, little-known British actor with amazing eyes and no infamous babysitter tryst, a film about one of literary world’s greatest wits was banned in Singapore because of “homosexual content”.

As fascinating a subject as the flamboyant satirist, novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde was, one really wonders why Wilde is being revisited (for the first time in cinemas), especially when the DVD must have made its rounds on our little island at least 10 times over the last decade.

The reason, according to the film’s distributor Shaw, is that Wilde has finally been passed by the Singapore Censorship Board completely uncut with a R21 rating in progressive 2008, and they believe that it is still a movie Singaporeans would be interested to see.

That may be true, but tagging the film as “the critically-acclaimed movie before Brokeback Mountain” in their newspaper ads seems to suggest a less altruistic motive: A blatant chase after the pink dollar.

Directed by Brian Gilbert (Tom & Viv), Wilde is based on Richard Ellmann’s excellent comprehensive biography on the man who was both lauded and misunderstood, and whose personal life rivalled the complexity of his famous works.

Despite an uneven script and a sometimes tedious, sporadically plodding narrative, the film is still compelling, mostly due to lead actor Stephen Fry’s remarkable portrayal.

British thespian and comic Fry, it must be said, is Oscar Wilde. He inhabits Wilde past the flesh and into the soul, exploring every nuance of a compulsively public man who was deeply conflicted, self-hating and who constantly wrestled with his sexuality.

Although Wilde does manage to capture its subject’s singular charm, its TV-movie approach ultimately doesn’t do justice to his intricacy, his genius and his reputation. Still, as the social philosopher said: “I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.” And through this film, Singapore will have that chance.

If they haven’t already bought the DVD with their pink dollars, that is. - TODAY/ra