Directed by:
Oliver ParkerCinematography:
Roger PrattComposer:
Charlie MoleCast:
Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Rebecca Hall, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Emilia Fox, Fiona Shaw, Ben Chaplin, Caroline Goodall, Daniel Newman, Maryam d'Abo, Douglas Henshall (more)Plots(1)
When a strikingly beautiful, but naive, young Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) arrives in Victorian London, he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Henry Wotton (Colin Firth), who introduces Dorian to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Henry's friend, society artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin), paints a portrait of Dorian to capture the full power of his youthful beauty. When it's unveiled Dorian makes a flippant pledge: he would give anything to stay as he is in the picture - even his soul. Spurred on by Henry, the young man's wild adventures continue. While he appears as innocent and beautiful as ever, his picture, now locked in the attic, grows uglier and more horrific with every forbidden desire he indulges in and with every evil deed he commits including murder. (Roadshow Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (2)
The book is better of course, but considering my worries about the movie I was very pleasantly surprised. Barnes delivers a more than solid performance (who would have said?) and the same applies for Firth. The atmosphere resembles a horror movie more than Wilde’s painting, but that isn’t such a shame. At places the movie was really chilling. The special effects aren’t so great, but it’s an all British production, so I’ll give them some points for effort.
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I thought this film would be pompous, that it would try to be too modern, but it turned out to be the adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray I imagined. It has power, the darkness of lust and the human soul, and it's all presented by well-chosen actors. It’s a great story about how far it is possible to go and still never reach fulfilment.
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