Dorian Gray | |
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Directed by | Oliver Parker |
Screenplay by | Toby Finlay |
Based on | The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde |
Produced by | Barnaby Thompson |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Roger Pratt |
Edited by | Guy Bensley |
Music by | Charlie Mole |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom) Alliance Films (Canada) National Entertainment Media (North America) |
Release date |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $22.4 million [1] |
Dorian Gray is a 2009 British dark fantasy horror film [2] based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray . The film was directed by Oliver Parker, and the screenplay was written by Toby Finlay. Dorian Gray stars Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin, Emilia Fox, and Rachel Hurd-Wood. It tells the story of the title character, an attractive Englishman whose loveliness and spirit are captured in a painting that keeps him from aging. While he remains young and handsome, his portrait becomes tainted with every sin he commits.
Dorian Gray was released in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2009, by Momentum Pictures, [3] having competed in the Official Fantàstic Competition at the 2009 Sitges Film Festival. [4] [5]
When a naïve young Dorian Gray arrives in Victorian London to inherit an estate left to him by his abusive grandfather, he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Lord Henry "Harry" Wotton, who introduces Gray to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Henry's friend, society artist Basil Hallward, paints a portrait of Gray to capture his beauty. Upon viewing the portrait, Gray makes a flippant pledge: He would give anything to stay young—even his soul.
Gray falls in love with budding young actress Sibyl Vane and proposes marriage. However, influenced by Henry and after a brothel visit, Gray leaves Sibyl. Heartbroken, the young woman drowns herself. Her brother, James ("Jim"), confronts Dorian and reveals Sibyl was pregnant with Gray's child. Jim attempts to strangle Gray before being dragged away. Henry distracts Gray from his grief, and his hedonistic lifestyle worsens, distancing him from Basil.
Gray finds Basil's portrait of him has become warped and twisted and realizes that his off-hand pledge has come true — while he stays healthy and whole, his sins and injuries manifest as physical defects on the canvas. When Basil repeatedly insists on seeing the portrait (which Gray had locked away in the attic), Gray reveals it to him and then kills him. Gray dismembers and dumps Basil's body in the River Thames, but the remains are recovered and buried.
Gray invites Henry to travel the world, but the latter declines, citing his wife's pregnancy. After a 25-year absence, Gray returns to London. He stuns everyone at the welcoming party with his unchanged youthful appearance. Much to her father's disapproval, Henry's daughter Emily becomes fascinated with Gray.
Gray's memory of Sibyl resurfaces, making him remorseful. He attempts to distance himself from Emily, but he cannot resist her. Jim Vane stalks and confronts Gray, only to be killed by an oncoming train in the London Underground. While Gray prepares to leave London with Emily, Henry studies old photographs and remembers Gray's off-handed pledge to exchange his soul for eternal youth.
Henry obtains a copy of Dorian's attic key. In the attic, he discovers Basil's blood-stained scarf. Gray confronts and attempts to strangle Henry, but gets distracted by Emily calling to him. Henry knocks him aside and exposes the portrait. Horrified at the twisted sight on the canvas, Henry sets it on fire and locks Gray in the attic. Emily reaches the attic, but Gray refuses to leave. He confesses his love for her, and Henry drags her out of the burning mansion. Gray impales the painting with a fire poker, causing his body to age rapidly before he and the entire mansion are consumed by fire.
A few months later, following a futile attempt to reconcile with Emily, Henry heads to his attic. He looks at the portrait of Gray, which has returned to its original state despite its burned and charred frame. The portrait's eyes briefly glow.
Supporting parts are played by Pip Torrens as Victor, Gray's valet; Jo Woodcock as Lord and Lady Radley's daughter Celia; Max Irons as Lucius, a young man whom Gray assaults at a party for touching the key to the attic door; David Sterne as the theatre manager who first introduces Gray to Sibyl; and Douglas Henshall as Alan Campbell, an acquaintance of Gray's who is present when Jim Vane tries to strangle Gray.
The film began shooting in summer 2008 at Ealing Studios and locations across London. [6] The film received £500,000 of National Lottery funding via the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund. [6]
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The film received mixed reviews. As of February 2024 [update] , the film holds an approval rating of 43% on film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Despite a lavish and polished production, Dorian Gray is tame and uninspired with a lifeless performance by Ben Barnes in the title role." [7]
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical fiction and gothic horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The novel-length version was published in April 1891.
"The Vane Sisters" is a short story by Vladimir Nabokov, written in March 1951. It is famous for providing one of the most extreme examples of an unreliable narrator. It was first published in the Winter 1958 issue of The Hudson Review and then reprinted in Encounter during 1959. The story was included in Nabokov's Quartet (1966), Nabokov's Congeries, Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1975), and The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (1995).
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Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) has inspired many cinematic, literary, and artistic adaptations.
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Dorian Gray, also known as The Sins of Dorian Gray and The Secret of Dorian Gray, is a 1970 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Helmut Berger.
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Reginald Francis Hallward was a British artist. He was a glassmaker, poet, painter and book designer. He is best known for his stained glass and light glass works for British churches. Hallward founded a publishing business to publish his and his wife, Adelaide's, poetry. Following World War I, Hallward created war memorials in England, France and Belgium.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1915 American silent film based on Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was first published in its full length in July 1891. Produced by Thanhouser Company in New York, this screen adaptation stars Harris Gordon in the title role with principal supporting characters performed by Helen Fulton, W. Ray Johnston, and Ernest Howard.
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Pact with the Devil, known in Canada as Dorian, is a 2004 Canadian-British drama film directed by Allan A. Goldstein and starring Ethan Erickson, Malcolm McDowell and Christoph Waltz. It is a modern retelling of the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was filmed in 2002 in Canada.
Lowell Gilmore was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Dorian Gray is a fictional character and the anti-hero of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. He is an aristocratic Victorian man.