Watch Salome's Last Dance

Salome's Last Dance is a biographical dramatic romance film that was written by Oscar Wilde, Vivian Russell and Ken Russell, who also directed. The cast includes Glenda Jackson, Stratford Johns, Nickolas Grace, Douglas Hodge, Imogen Claire and Imogen Millais-Scott. The film begins on Guy Fawkes Day in 1892, around three years prior to when the real writer, Oscar Wilde was disgraced and subsequently imprisoned. Oscar Wilde (played by Nickolas Grace) walks into a Parisian male bordello that specializes in serving wealthy patrons. The owner has arranged for a performance of Oscar's notorious play that has been banned by English Authorities, called Salome. As Wilde lays around on a couch drinking Champagne, he occasionally comments on the performances while the staff works on his one act burlesque play on a special stage. Their actual dialogue is nearly identical to what Wilde had written. However, there are some obvious excesses in the staging. The production is colorful and gaudy and portrays Salome (played by Imogen Millais-Scott) as a spoiled and insolent brat whose mother, Herodias (played by Glenda Jackson) is constantly bickering with King Herod (played by Stratford Johns). The story retells Wilde's singular version of the actual biblical story of Salome that involved requesting that Herod present her with John the Baptist's head on a silver platter - in exchange for one of her erotic dances. The issues get complex as John the Baptist and Lord Alfred Douglas, or Bosie - Wilde's lover is the same character. As Bosie tries to keep in line with the characters onstage, Wilde finds himself in the arms of a young man in the brothel, sometimes ignoring the production. Three dwarfs dress as Hassidic Jews and mimic the other actors' behavior. Two British young women appear in the background for almost all the scenes, but say nothing. Salome gets replaced during one of her dances by a male, revealing the character to be a transvestite.