Dorian Gray (2009)
Country: UK
Production Company: Ealing Studios in association with the UK Film Council present a Fragile Film in association with Aramid Entertainment, Alliance E Films, Inc, and Prescience.
Executive Producers: James Spring, Paul Brett, Charles Miller Smith, Tim Smith, Simon Fawcett, James Holland, Xavier Marchand
Producer: Barnaby Thompson
Co-Producer: Alexandra Ferguson
Director: Oliver Parker
Screenplay: Toby Finlay, from the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Editor: Guy Bensley
Cinematographer: Roger Pratt BSC
Music: Charlie Mole
Production Designer: John Beard
Special Effects: Mark Holt
Visual Effects: Charles Henley, Dominic Thomson
Sound Editor: Max Hoskins
Sound Effects: Samir Foco
Make-up: Jeremy Woodhead
Costumes: Ruth Meyers
Titles: Matt Curtis
Title Animation: Matt Lawrence
Stunts: Lee Sheward
Portrait Painter: Paul Renney
Length: 112 mins.
Cast: Ben Barnes (Dorian Gray), Colin Firth (Lord Henry Wotton), Ben Chaplin (Basil Hallward), Rebecca Hall (Emily Wotton), Douglas Henshall (Alan Campbell), Rachel Hurd-Wood (Sybil Vane), Emilia Fox (Lady Victoria Wotton), Caroline Goodall (Lady Radley), Johnny Harris (James Vane), Pip Torrens (Victor), Fiona Shaw (Agatha), Maryam d'Abo (Gladys), Jo Woodcock (Celia Radley) Michael Culkin (Lord Radley) Hugh Ross (Priest), David Sterne (Theatre Manager)
Synopsis: Dorian Gray arrives in London to claim the mansion inherited from his grandfather, a vicious monster who hated the boy and beat him as a child. Soon the toast of London society, his portrait is painted by acclaimed artist Basil Hallward, and he falls under the spell of dissolute Lord Henry Wotton. As Gray's life spirals into hedonism, he soon discovers that the portrait reflects the ruin to his body and soul, as he himself remains unmarked and youthful.
Review: Much as Oliver Parker's 2002 adaptation of Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest pales in comparison to Anthony Asquith's 1952 version, so his Dorian Gray will inevitably be measured against Albert Lewin's 1945 The Picture of Dorian Gray (unjustly overlooked, and not seen on DVD until 2008), and be found wanting.
On the bright side, the thing looks gorgeous, with the sure eye of Roger Pratt (Twelve Monkeys, Chocolat, two Harry Potters) deftly shooting the production design of John Beard (Thunderbirds, The Skeleton Key) – all dark mahogany, velvet, and powder blue Rolls Royces, with the exterior of Gray's mansion reeking of decay. And there is reasonable adherence to the source material, with a perfectly acceptable amping up of the sexual and homoerotic undertones present in Wilde's original story, that he himself toned down when he expanded it to novel length.
The main problems arise in the casting, with Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) lacking the depth to carry off the decadent nobleman whose portrait stands as a metaphor for the rot and decay in the English upper classes. His demeanor may not have changed, when in 1916 he returns from his 25-year hiatus, but neither has his maturity. It's fine for him to remain pretty, but surely he would act more like a 45 year old man of 1916, and less like the petulant boy of 1891.
Hurd Hatfield in the Lewin version was accused of being too steely and cold for the part, but his performance perfectly balanced that of George Sanders and Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane. Vane, here an actress in a back street theater production of Hamlet (she plays Ophelia in the films most clunkingly prescient foreshadowing) – is played by Rachel Hurd-Wood (An American Haunting, Solomon Kane) with such a total lack of charisma, that her downfall comes as a welcome relief, getting her out of the way and us onto the interesting stuff. Ironic given that, in Wilde's original, Gray spurns her because her love for him has wrecked her ability to act.
In compensation, the whole film is carried on Colin Firth's admirable shoulders, his Wotton dropping Wilde's epithets perfectly, a biting tongue masquerading his weakness of character and injecting the line "You have the only two things worth having: beauty and youth" with just a hint of venom, suggesting he wants to destroy Gray as much as control him. Rebecca Hall's character, Emily Wotten, is new but while her performance as Lord Henry's emancipated daughter brighten's proceedings towards the end, the fact that she's a photographer should have had greater resonance.
The biggest error here, is the treatment of the painting. In the 1945 version, Ivan Albright’s portrait (which can be viewed today in the Art Institute of Chicago) was shown in color within the black and white film, a neat trick that accentuated the beauty of the original, and gave the horrific final image added shock value. Here we have cheesy CGI, reminiscent of Ghostbusters 2, only rescued by a memorable closing shot of Gray's fiery demise, which is then promptly undermined by a coda showing the painting improbably intact.
The main issue with any adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray is that Wilde's intent wasn't to horrify, but to create a metaphor to uncover the ugly hypocrisy of the upper classes. We are therefore left with a kind of Jekyll and Hyde light, a film lacking the weight of a period costume drama, but with little in the way of compensatory thrills.
Dorian Gray was released in the UK on 09.09.09, no US release date has yet been announced.
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