Dorian Gray, 2009

Dorian Gray, 2009
Director: Oliver Parker
Cast: Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Rebecca Hall



Stage: Home theatre, home cosiness

Dorian in short: A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.


Preps: Dorian Gray was a notorious high school reading, we had it at our degree exam. At that point it was something I couldn't fully understand. I figured if I read it again like 10 or 20 years after, it would be a totally different experience. Well, this is an opportunity to see it live. And think how I imagined it at my teen age.



Reality: Dorian is in a way just as I pictured it. It carefully follows the story I remember and shows a remarkable flip over a picture and a young man, trading his soul for youth image, to go continuously in the future as it was, depicted in his 20-ties. While being young, Dorian nurtures his life and experiences all possible pleasures or assumed pleasures. However, pleasures at that point in history represented mostly indulging women, drugs and drinking. We cannot tell where he got his experience, poetry, reading, since it seems he's doing nothing to upgrade that aspect of his life.

The price is vigorous.. the picture gets old instead of him and in some masohistic kind of way, Dorian watches his corrupted soul (that is represented on the picture) over and over again and tortures himself while looking at it. And in the mean time he treads on people he knows and loves. To spare his soul at any price.

In the english dark way, the payment day comes and is encrypted into a love he finally meets, but has to give away for the sake of good and what's right to do. In my opinion, a very good live version of the book. Still, I am glad I read it.. and I see a different meaning in all of this.. at the teen-understanding, I envied the man for keeping his youth and wanted to figure a way to do it myself :) Now it's a whole different story. I want to keep my soul and who I am, the virtues I have grown now and things I believe in now. Not the youth. It's not important. However, soul is.

My personal rating: 8,0 (an extremely good version of the classic Wilde book. Plus you will enjoy the good dialogue and witty remarks. Dorian is really brilliant, not only young and good looking)


Gray on IMDB