Dorian Gray Review

What is there to say about the movie Dorian Gray? It was like watching a man go deep into the bounds of hell, but not leaping in; slow inching his way through every debaucherous sensation one sin at a time. This is a very timely movie, in a day when every whim can be instantly accessed, the movie Dorian Gray reminds us that even thou we can’t always see the effects of our choices in life on the surface; our soul is dying a slow putrid death by the way we sometime live.

Before we get started, I always believe we should start with the movies synopsis so people can have a frame of reference for the review.
Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890.[1] Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891.[2] The story is often mistitled The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Talking in Basil's garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, expressing his desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.[3]
Source: WIKI


Even thou the above paragraph is about the novel; the movie held true to it in ever last word.
This isn’t going to be my typical review where I give just the good and the bad in the movie. This movie provoked a plethora different thought on theology and self while watch it. The acting in the movie was very good. Every character gave you a sense of being lead down a path of destruction though sinful acts. Ben Barnes plays Dorian Gay so well you almost forget he’s acting, and Colin Firth as Lord Henry his lecherous mentor who leads him down the path of self destruction was awesome.

What I really want to discuss is how director Oliver Park displayed this movie like a beautiful piece of art. From the very start, when Gray starts down the wrong path it’s nothing overt. It starts with the simple offering of a cigarette, and slowly you see how Lord Henry starts to manipulate Gray’s thoughts and actions. At first like many of us Gray rejects the idea we should indulge in any and all sensation of the flesh, but the truth of the matter is like Gray we succumb to the pressure of the people around us to be the same.

This is how Lord Henry manages to infiltrate his thoughts about his appearance and how someday without his youth he will be nothing but a shell of a man. Gray slowly turns from a young impressionable gentleman into a prideful seeker of the sensations of the flesh.
The picture painted of him in the movie you only see about three times, and you don’t get to see the end result of his life in the painting until the end of the movie, but the director through dialog and camera angle let you know the horrifying ramifications happening to the painting due to Gray’s choices in life.

The movie really made you think about “what do I really look like.” Not the surface stuff like your hair or your skin, but on the inside. When Gray first realizes that the painting is the reflection of his sin, at first he embraces it and for years delves into the worst the world has to offer. Director Oliver Park shows us this through quick cuts and flashes that show you the depravity and dispair Gray goes through over a 30 year period without aging.

It’s at this point the movie really started to make me uncomfortable. I started to ask myself “if I didn’t have to face the consequences of my sin would I do the same”, and then I got pissed because this is a movie and I’m here for entertainment. Still, watching Gray spiral down the hole of despair only to seek redemption when it was too late reminded me that this is the perfect example of why I love movies so much. Not only was I being entertained but it provoked thoughts and emotions on an emotional level.

This movie is based off of a brilliant novel, and we all know the movie is never better then the book, but this movie we make you take pause. You might find yourself questioning if you are making the right choices or is your pride ruining your soul and the relationships around you. I recommend this movie for anyone over 16 years old, but I would say wait for the DVD so you can really sit and enjoy everything Dorian Gray has to offer.

I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 popcorns

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The character was also featured in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen played by Stuart Townsend (same guy who played Lestat in Queen of the Damned).

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But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet, Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. W.B. Yeats

Also, if anyone hasn't read it, it's a fairly short read and one of the better ones for the time period it serves. Great idea and again, just a fantastic story. I do hope that the film lives up to the story.

I just got my hands on a copy of this. Will watch this sometime in the next couple days.

Wow, I wasn't expecting it to sound so good. I adore the book - one of the most brilliant things I've ever read. I'll have to see this now, I suppose.

Big Chico which version are you talking about. Is there a new one?

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Louise Vale first woman to play Jane Eyre in the flickers.

Yes, there is one that just came out with Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray.

I'll probably catch this one tv on day, as I do like the story. Plus, this version has another couple of good reasons to watch.


Emilia Fox


Rebecca Hall

By the way, is this a foreign film? I don't recognize anyone really.

It's not foreign to me.

It says IN CINEMAS to me it sounds like a British or Australian film.

Yes, it's a British film.

Anyone who has read the novel will be bored. Actually everyone will be bored.

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That's a shame, zedlen. Oh well maybe they will make a good version 25 years hence. I'll be able to see it when I look like the picture of Dorian Grey.

Here are a number of film/TV versions of The Picture of Dorian Grey. The 1945 version is accounted to be the best, I particularly remember a young Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane.

C'mon, did anyone really expect this to be good? It 'stars' Colin Firth ffs. As I said, I'll catch it on tv one day and the ladies and story should be enough to see me through.

I'm not expecting it to be good, from the trailers I've seen, it looks like it has way to much cg in it.

There's a version with Angela Lansbury? I'll have to see that...

I found an old BBC adaptation on Youtube that was done rather well, imo. It was done in '76 and looks rather low-budget. It stuck pretty close to the book, but had fairly good acting and - I thought - really captured the atmosphere of the book.

Dorian Gray 2009 movie was released on september in the UK
i havent seen the movie, but by looking at the reviews
at imdb.com it is rated 6.6 seems like a decent film
though not a great one.

ran across a trailer for it very happenstance, and it piqued my interest. i had seen the dorian gray character in TLOEG, and his story seemed quite interesting even then.

not overly concerned about the actors or where it was filmed - more so looking for the maturity of theological/deterministic argument. but then, when life is pretty much this way:



things willing to brave a frontal discussion of divine purpose, ultimate fate and consequences for human behavior tend to pique my interest. it'd be interesting to see their take on it.

enjoyed the review, and will most def check it out for better or worse.

It's a shame that such a theoretically perfect Dorian Gray as Stuart Townsend was wasted on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sure, at 31, Townsend was arguably too old for the role in 2003, and even more so in 2009, the year this Dorian Gray was released; he was also too expressive, and based on both this film and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), it seems that the ideal Dorian Gray is a blank page — an unpainted canvas, so to speak, and while this makes a degree of sense, it does leave us wondering what exactly everyone sees in the titular character.

This is especially true of Ben Barnes, who’s so irresistible that he strips a young debutante of her virtue and, when her mother tries protests, he sleeps with her too, winning a bet in the process; this is a development that even Oscar Wilde would find vulgar (but, worse than vulgar, screenwriter Toby Finlay is trite, making Dorian say, when asked by Lord Henry (Colin Firth) what his secret is, the line "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." ”; I shudder to think that someone watching this film might believe that Wilde is responsible for this cliché, even if in 1890 it was not yet a one), and that we find it incredible because Dorian is nowhere near as fascinating as director Oliver Parker would like us to believe (but he is rich, though, so there’s that).

Now, Dorian is a Faustian character, and as such, he has little choice but to be a thankless role — yes, in theory he has a lot of fun (fun that the 1945 film, unlike this one, wisely left offscreen; Dorian’s vices are unspeakable, and trying to flesh them out is useless and counterproductive), but in practice he discovers, like Marcello Mastroianni, that the Dolce Vita is actually very bitter. The movie even manages to screw up the really juicy role of Lord Henry; Firth is a good actor, but wrong (especially when compared to George Sanders in the 1945 version) for this role for the same reasons that made him a poor choice for Valmont.