Dorian Gray

"Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic novel, but true to Wilde it combines both high-minded literature and the juicier pleasures of entertainment. Colin Firth and Ben Barnes rise to that standard in this truly compelling adaptation, offering first Wilde's sparkling wit, then a plunge into gothic horror. When the handsome and naive Dorian (Barnes) arrives in Victorian London, he befriends the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton (Firth)... more

"Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic novel, but true to Wilde it combines both high-minded literature and the juicier pleasures of entertainment. Colin Firth and Ben Barnes rise to that standard in this truly compelling adaptation, offering first Wilde's sparkling wit, then a plunge into gothic horror. When the handsome and naive Dorian (Barnes) arrives in Victorian London, he befriends the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton (Firth), who introduces him to a world of excess. For Henry, the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfillment of the senses, views he imparts to Dorian together with a good deal of flattery. Women are enamoured of Dorian's youthful countenance, but so is artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin), a friend of Henry's who paints Dorian's portrait, aiming to capture all the power and allure of physical beauty. Overtaken with his own vanity, Dorian decides he would rather sell his soul than see himself age another day. Soon after, just such a deal presents itself, with the stipulation that every sin marked upon his soul would render itself visible on Basil's painting. Disregarding consequences, Dorian descends into debauchery. He seduces the beautiful performer Sibyl Vane (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and then abandons her. He woos a host of stunning women, attends erotically charged costume parties and indulges in whatever fancy suits his whim. Yet Dorian is continually haunted by the true nature of his appearance. Oliver Parker has forged a career adapting the works of Oscar Wilde to the screen; with Dorian Gray, he takes a compelling revisionist approach, freeing this adaptation from the restraint typical of period pieces and emphasizing the hedonistic impulses that were the central thrust of Wilde's original novel. Though set in a lost era, the film's exploration of double lives feels thoroughly contemporary. Long before the Internet made duplicity such a common trait of social interaction, Wilde could shock Victorian society with the notion that a gentleman could be hideously deformed on the inside and a paragon of beauty without." Quoting the 2009 TIFF site less