The Importance of Being Earnest
Two charming impostors turn Victorian courtship into a sparkling duel of aliases, etiquette, and Wildean absurdity.
Overview
A witty exploration of love and identity unfolds in a world of societal expectations and mistaken intentions.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Mild
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- witty
- sardonic
- elegant
- classic movie night
- theater inspired viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a highly enjoyable and faithful Oscar Wilde adaptation whose extraordinary cast and polished wit outweigh its deliberately stagey presentation.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Wilde's dialogue ridicules snobbery, etiquette, marriage conventions, and pomposity throughout the drawing-room exchanges.
The cast performs Wilde's multiple entendres and epigrams in a deliberately formal, high, dry register.
The production foregrounds its stage origins with curtain framing, drawing-room presentation, and largely static theatrical staging.
Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff each pretend to be someone else while pursuing romantic relationships.
Films like The Importance of Being Earnest, and why
The Philadelphia Story
witty period romantic comedy built around social etiquette, deception, and sparkling verbal exchanges
The Lady Eve
stylized adaptation of sophisticated stage comedy featuring marriage negotiations, class satire, and an iconic ensemble
An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde adaptation sharing drawing-room wit, romantic complications, and comic attacks on Victorian propriety
Movie Details
- Director
- Anthony Asquith
- Release Date
- 1952-06-02
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (126)
Cast
- Michael Redgrave
- Michael Denison
- Edith Evans
- Joan Greenwood
- Dorothy Tutin
- Margaret Rutherford
- Miles Malleson
- Richard Wattis
- Walter Hudd
- Aubrey Mather
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Importance of Being Earnest about?
- Two charming impostors turn Victorian courtship into a sparkling duel of aliases, etiquette, and Wildean absurdity.
- What is The Importance of Being Earnest like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Importance of Being Earnest as measured, its intensity as mild and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Importance of Being Earnest violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Importance of Being Earnest.
- What did critics think of The Importance of Being Earnest?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a highly enjoyable and faithful Oscar Wilde adaptation whose extraordinary cast and polished wit outweigh its deliberately stagey presentation.
- Which films are like The Importance of Being Earnest?
- Films with a similar feel include The Philadelphia Story, The Lady Eve, and An Ideal Husband.
- How long is The Importance of Being Earnest?
- The Importance of Being Earnest runs 95 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Importance of Being Earnest?
- In United States, The Importance of Being Earnest streams on Criterion Channel.
