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Dorian Grey by Rebecca Jackaman
- Certificate: 15
- Director: Oliver Parker
- Released: 9th September 2009
The Cast:
- Ben Barnes – Dorian Grey
- Colin Firth – Lord Henry Wotton
- Rachel Hurd-Wood – Sybil Vane
- Fiona Shaw - Agatha
- Ben Chaplin – Basil Hallward
The Buzz:
I’d been hearing a lot of mixed opinions on Dorian Grey, most liked it, but there were still those who recalled it rather “cringe worthy”. I thought I had to find out for myself…
Those who don’t know the legend or have read the book, a young aristocrat called Dorian Grey (Prince Caspian’s Ben Barnes), inherits his grandfather’s mansion and becomes friends with an artist, Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) and Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth). Henry introduces Grey to the pleasures in life (oo-er), what with Dorian being so innocent 'n’ all, and Hallward decides to paint his picture (do you see where this is going?). When it’s completed, it attracts everyone’s attention, because it’s so striking – and Dorian is absolutely gorgeous!
So, the gist is that he sells his soul and gorges himself by drinking, smoking and generally sleeps his way around Victorian London. I began to understand why people cringed…
Years pass (it’s very delicately done, look out for an early Fiat car, and a mention of the Suffragettes!), and Dorian is as fresh-faced as ever. But freaky things have started happening to his portrait…
The film takes quite a while to get going, but the setting is perfectly murky and Gothic, as intended in Oscar Wilde’s novel (The Portrait of Dorian Grey), so that makes up for it…sort of. Ben Barnes’ performance was superb, you can definitely tell the change in his character throughout, from a naive young man, to a brutal and heartless person, who is very protective of that key of his… (the key is to the room in which Dorian keeps his painting)
The “passionate” scenes weren’t as bad as I expected, but I still cringed a bit – who wouldn’t? Also, I relished, squirmed and jumped at the tension-building music whenever the portrait was visited. All in all, I quite enjoyed it, to an extent. I say that because I was disappointed with how the picture looked in the end - far less scary than I expected!
The Rating:
I give this film 3 STARS
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