Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray, as penned by the Irish wit Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), is a tale of high-brow debauchery and limitless pleasures of body and soul and the corruption, by one Lord Henry Wotton, of the young, handsome and soon to be narcissistic 19th century rock 'n roll hell-raiser Dorian Gray.

Ealing Studios have translated Wilde's controversial novel into a celluloid den of iniquity that somehow comes across as rather shallow. Like the characters seen here too; it seems that as a work of symbolic gesture of how the upper classes conduct their sordid lifestyle of hypocrisy, deceit and lust it lacks any deep and thoughtful intrigue that any good 19th century Gothic horror story should be.

To fully understand the ethics of a Victorian London that Oscar Wilde has so wonderfully reflected with his novel here, we see, too, with this latest interpretation using, as Wilde may have done, the picture purely as a metaphorical means. Yes, we see the selling of souls here and the lamb to the slaughter and the hedonistic teachings of Lord Wotton, but toward the end, the whole sordid affair becomes predictable.

Penned with an undercurrent of realism and too fantasy of the love of sin. It's a dark, dirty, dingy setting of a self-indulgent Victorian London that we are lead to believe is prim and proper on the surface but lurking just below this weak, temperate society lies pure greed, greed for experience, experience that will transcend the mind, body and soul to the wondrous dealings of what life has to offer. For, as always, a price, a price both Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray would pay the highest sacrifice.

It is with a taint of sorrow that this latest performance too has paid a price too high, sensationalism over content, ironies aside, the film seems too concerned to show the sordid details of this lifestyle and its inhabitants'. It lingers on too far in the bedrooms of London and strays too far from the mental anguish that may have been. We see the trouble mind of our young (looking) man but we see not enough of his fears, regrets, sorrows and repentance, which are cast aside and squandered. Welcome to the 21st century Mr. Wilde.

By the time the chimes of time are echoing in the distance we have Dorian fading into the far reaches of the eternal abyss of the afterlife. With all the time in the world we are still wanting more to feed our palates, it's all to aesthetically pleasing, but at the same time oh so unrewarding, a taster we are given but the full flavour we are, regrettably, spared.

This too may have its target audience and in so having picked its target out it may have trouble standing the test of time, due to its lack of wit, lack of diversity and a lack of daring and commitment of its original source. It is a sad loss that such a literary work of historical meaning and wealth should have been robbed of its qualities.

It is obvious, the novel is only a pretext for a kind puzzle game with crumbs from Portrait of Dorian Gray. Maybe not so bad if you ignore the book. But if not, the only compensation can be the effort of Colin Firth and Ben Chaplin.

Ben Barnes ? Hansome, off course but, unfortunatelly, not Dorian. The exercises of exploration of Dorian gray past are only good intentioned.

In short, not a bad film but sort of childish exploration of a lot of ifs only for surprise or impress or seduce or be, apparently, cool.

But, not exactly Oscar Wild and, for me, it is not happy option.

Sure, new century, new states. But Portrait of Dorian Gray is more than thriller/ horror/ Gothic. Or , exactly the deep subtance, in this adaptation, just missing.

I am not an expert at writing reviews, but I so strongly disagreed with the review originally posted for this movie that I had to express a counter point of view. To me, the best thing about this movie was the acting. Ben Barnes is completely riveting and I'm not some teenage girl that things he's just so cute. He had such a strong on screen presence, I almost confused him with Ben Whipshaw who did a movie called "Perfume" and both actors in each of these performances are exceptional. It's fun to watch period pieces for the set design and costumes. Again, this movie did not disappoint. I have read Oscar Wilde's story and always found Wilde to come across as a bit enamored at his own cleverness. This script flows. The dialog comes across as witty and not pompous. The script does justice to the work. It is definitely worth the time to watch.

'Dorian Gray', directed by Oliver Parker, is definitely a more graphic adaptation of the spirit of the book written by Oscar Wilde. Throughout, I wondered how Wilde would react to the film, were he still with us. On one hand, I believe he would have appreciated the touch of horror; I certainly felt it in his writing. He was quoted from another of his books (Lady Windermere's Fan) "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." In this movie, the latter was certainly true for poor Dorian.

On the other hand, the book 'Picture of Dorian Gray' seemed fairly minimalist in affect (as was Barnes' interpretation of the character) so, would Mr. Wilde be a smidge put off by all the melodrama and overt sexual content? Who knows? He used a lot of symbolism and subtle innuendo in his writing, but the politics of the time could account for some of what he didn't literally spell out, I suppose. After all, he was imprisoned for his lifestyle and beliefs, for a time.

Wilde lived a deep and complicated life. His personality and character were revealed through his writing and oh, what I would have given to be on his list of friends. "A good friend will stab you in the front." -- Oscar Wilde

Alas, the book, in this case, pleased my pitiful imagination more than the movie. While the acting was superb, I had a difficult time reconciling myself with what I felt was an over-reach on the tenor of this great story. You know, the old 'less is more' adage.

My disclaimer to the literary elite: I am simply an appreciator of art, not a professional, so take my opinion with a grain of whatever you prefer.

"I don't say we all ought to misbehave, but we all ought to look as if we could." -- Oscar Wilde

Based on a book by Oscar Wilde i thought this will be interesting film and i was not disappointed. I never read the book so i don't know how close the book is to the film but i must say the writer has done a great job updating this, with a story that really grip you.

The directer has done great job making it very dark but not too dark you can't see thing. Making feel like you are in back street of London in 1800's. The casting was top notch with newcomer Ben Barnes and an really outstanding performance by Colin Firth. Was really surprised to see Ben Chaplin from the comedy show "Game On". He is not bad drama actor too.

You can really connect with characters in this film which it make it really interesting film to watch and an story that alway make you think. Must see.