Dorian Gray (**)
Directed by: Oliver Parker
Starring: Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin,
Rachel Hurd-Wood
Seen: September 25th 2010
** Out of ****
Based on the Oscar Wilde 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian
Gray, Dorian Gray is a rather ineffectual attempt at bringing a classic to the
screen. I’ve not read the book, but very little research reveals that small elements
have been changed that could be partially to blame for the sub-par feeling I walked
out of the cinema with. According to a friend, Wilde regularly included homoerotic
undertones in his works, where in this movie it is not only hinted at, but
actually realised as Dorian and a friend are shown in more than a friendly
embrace.
Young and naïve Dorian Gray (Barnes) arrives in London and is almost immediately taken under the
wing by Lord Henry Wotton (Firth), a captivating man who pulls Dorian into the
Victorian underworld where hedonism reigns supreme. Basil Hallward (Chaplin)
paints a portrait of Dorian which is so good that Dorian remarks he would give
anything to stay as he is in the picture forever, even his soul. On one of their
nights of indulgence, Dorian sees a girl from afar, but before he gathers the
courage to approach her she leaves. He does get a second chance however, and he
does not squander this one – Sibyl Vane (Hurd-Wood) and Dorian fall in love and
are engaged soon enough. Henry has other ideas, and after planting some ideas
in Dorian’s head the couple break up, which leads to Sibyl drowning herself in
the river. When Dorian wants to grieve her Henry tells Dorian that this is yet
another experience towards a more self-gratifying lifestyle, and Dorian
embraces it to the point where his excesses surpass that of Lord Henry.
As Dorian’s actions remain continually dark, his portrait
takes on damage, when he gets injured the portrait shows the wound, and Dorian
locks the portrait in his attic, hiding it from the world. He even murders Basil,
the one person who sees it and demands its destruction. He goes on an extended
holiday around the world, and when he returns many years later he looks exactly
as he did before, not having aged a day – with everyone at home almost worshipping
him for how he looks while they accept their aged fate. Dorian meets Emily
Wotton (Hall), Henry’s daughter (a character who didn’t appear in the novel, as
Henry never had a child – but who is probably a replacement of another
character in the novel), who is now around the same age Dorian appears to be,
and the two connect almost instantly, much to Lord Henry’s chagrin. While
Dorian still hides his portrait, Henry tries to see what Dorian is hiding away,
and when he eventually does, things literally explode as the portrait is
eventually destroyed.
The destruction of the portrait comes across as highly
grotesque and this makes the movie fall into a cheap horror category, and having
things unravel in this way blunted the effect for me, as a living, breathing monstrosity
of a portrait seems out of place in a movie with the supposed sophistication
expected here… Dorian Gray is not for everyone, and it certainly wasn’t for me,
as I left the cinema feeling dirty, and not at all enlightened by a well-presented
story about the dangers of clinging to external beauty at the cost of anything
else.
Comments