September 17, 2002 -- "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a light, witty satire about the silliness of love and the English upper crust in the late 1800s. Based on the Oscar Wilde play of the same name, this film has some stellar talent, headlined by the fabulous Dame Judi Dench.

Dench plays Lady Bracknell, and she has a lot of juicy lines in this adaptation. The story concerns two friends, John "Jack" Worthing (played by Colin Firth of "Bridget Jones' Diary") and Algernon "Algy" (played by Rupert Everett of "A Midsummer Night's Dream") who like to carouse in London. Jack goes by the name of Earnest while he is in London, away from his country estate, to avoid sullying his reputation. He tells people in the country he is visiting his brother Earnest in London. While in London, he falls in love with the pretty Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor of "Windtalkers") and proposes marriage. He knows he is in trouble when she tells him she will marry him, precisely because his name is Earnest. Meanwhile, Algy sneaks out to Jack's country estate pretending to be Jack's non-existent brother, Earnest. There, he falls in love with the beautiful Cecily Cardew, Jack's young ward. He proposes to her and she accepts, mainly because she thinks his name is Earnest. Now they are both in big trouble.

This comedy of mistaken identities gets a lot more complex before it is straightened out. Lady Bracknell, who must give her approval before Jack and Gwendolen can marry, subjects Jack to a shrewd interrogation. She asks him if he knows everything or nothing. He replies that he knows nothing. She comments, "I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square." Later in the same line of questioning, she asks Jack about his parents. He said he has lost both of his parents. She replies, "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." These lines are taken directly from the play.

The play attacks the whole notion of upper class privilege in a very clever, funny way. The dialogue is sharp and witty. The whole idea of marrying people because of their name is silly, of course, but that is part of the joke on the whole class system. Dench is wonderful as usual and Resse Witherspoon is very charming (with a very good English accent), as is Frances O'Connor. Rupert Everett and Colin Firth are very effective playing the somewhat capricious young men who would be Earnest. Director Oliver Parker, who did such a fine job with another Wilde play, "An Ideal Husband," in 1999, does another great job here. It is photographed in rich color by Tony Pierce-Roberts ("The Golden Bowl") and the production design and art direction are first class by Luciana Arrighi and Paul Ghirardani, respectively. Both Arrighi and Ghirardani combined to make an earlier film of great beauty, "Anna and the King." The musical score by Charlie Mole ("An Ideal Husband") is also very good. The whole production has that immaculate Merchant-Ivory look to it. This film rates a C+.

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