Dorian Gray (2009 film)

Dorian Gray
British promotional poster
Directed by	Oliver Parker
Screenplay by	Toby Finlay
Based on	The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Produced by	Barnaby Thompson
Starring	Ben Barnes Colin Firth Rebecca Hall Ben Chaplin Emilia Fox Rachel Hurd-Wood
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Edited by	Guy Bensley
Music by	Charlie Mole
Production companies	Alliance Films UK Film Council Ealing Studios Fragile Films Aramid Entertainment Prescience Film Partnerships
Distributed by	Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom) Alliance Films (Canada) National Entertainment Media (North America)
Release date	9 September 2009 (2009-09-09) (United Kingdom)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$22.4 million

Dorian Gray is a 2009 British dark fantasy horror film 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, having competed in the Official Fantàstic Competition at the 2009 Sitges Film Festival.

Plot

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.

Cast

• Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray
• Colin Firth as Lord Henry Wotton
• Ben Chaplin as Basil Hallward (painter)
• Rachel Hurd-Wood as Sibyl Vane
• Johnny Harris as Jim Vane
• Rebecca Hall as Emily Wotton
• Emilia Fox as Lady Victoria Wotton
• Fiona Shaw as Agatha
• Maryam d'Abo as Gladys
• Caroline Goodall as Lady Radley
• Michael Culkin as Lord Radley

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.

Production

The film began shooting in summer 2008 at Ealing Studios and locations across London. The film received £500,000 of National Lottery funding via the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund.

Directoral Intent

Oliver states that he knew he would need to deviate from the original novel in order to create an effective film. Some of the things he discussed with his writer and Ben included: changing the story to create a climax in the 3rd act of the film and the addition of Lord Henry's daughter. Parker understood that he would be in conflict with purists of the novel, but felt he needed to make these changes in order to not do a disservice the original. Ben Barnes also mentions the character Emily, he said she works as a foil to Dorian and gives the audience a chance to see Dorian's redemption.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. As of February 2024, 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."

Early Reception

When The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published, early critics quickly condemned it as a corrupting influence decrying its aestheticism followed by hidden references to homosexuality, and disregard for moral convention. These early responses, so thoroughly scandalized by Wilde’s departure from traditional ethical narratives, rarely acknowledged the philosophical significance of the portrait itself. The painting, despite being the title piece, was treated in criticism as a mysterious prop rather than what Wilde subtly proposed it to be, an autonomous force, an object with as much agency and narrative consequence as Dorian himself, as they are an embodiment of one another.

Modern Response

Oliver Parker’s 2009 film adaptation, Dorian Gray, attempts a moody and modernized retelling, but does so at the expense of the portrait’s essential presence. The painting, despite its mythic reputation within the story as impossibly beautiful and terrifyingly alive, often appears onscreen as strangely muted, visually underwhelming. Each time the portrait appears, the portrait is rendered with a dullness that undermines its intended impact that is enveloped in flat lighting that eliminates any sense of luminous or unsettling presence. While the cinematography successfully cultivates its lively atmosphere and is interconnected to Dorian throughout the film, it fails to transform the painting into the vivid and compelling focal point that Wilde’s prose so powerfully conveys. The canvas remains stubbornly matte and uninspiring. In scenes where the portrait should dominate the frame like engaging the audience with the same mixture of dread and fascination experienced by Dorian, it instead recedes into the background, appearing lifeless and dull, thus weakening its dramatic significance.

Technical Aspects and Narrative Changes

The Portrait

Many technical aspects and narrative changes of the film center around Artist Basil Hallward's elaborate, youthful portrait of Dorian Gray. In Oliver Parker's film, the picture, once completed, transcends its role as a material object. Like the novel, the portrait is alive, transforming with age, open to wounds and decay, observing, and capable of influencing Mr. Gray's actions. The cinematographic tools of specific camera angles and sound, along with narrative changes, were employed to amplify the picture's liveliness in this modern adaptation.

A deviation from the novel that draws subtly attention to the portrait's presence in the film is when it is not hidden away from public view once completed by Basil. It is immediately displayed and praised by the high society, hung high in an open area of Dorian's home where social gatherings are commonly held. This placement allows the picture to observe its counterpart, Dorian, and his interactions with others in society. The portrait's ability to observe is evident in the film when the audience and Dorian first become aware of the portrait's vitality occurring after Dorian receives the dreadful news of Sybil Vane's death. Alone in the room with the picture, Dorian, along with the film's audience, felt the painting's gaze, intently watching him as his and the painting's sight were portrayed through the cinematic technique of the camera's point of view. The film's viewpoint in this scene between the two continuously shifts between the portraits and Dorian's observations of one another. The blurred gaze from the camera's panning effect belonged to the portrait, as the camera angle was taken from a higher vantage point looking down upon Dorian, who was moving closer into the scene frame as he gradually approached the area where the painting hung. When the portrait's blurred perspective appears on screen, a haunting song accompanies the scene to emphasize the horrifying revelation that the picture is alive. Another occurrence in the film that diverges from the novel to intensify the liveness of the picture is its process of decay. Unlike lifeless objects, it decomposes at a quick pace, attracting flies and rats, and has a worm fall from its painted canvas face. It is an unusual process of decay for material objects; however, this painting is alive.

Themes

Art and Science

Neuroscience and neuroaesthetics permit the director Oliver Parker to create an ontological aesthetic character of the Picture in the film Dorian Gray (2009). Neuroaesthetics proposes the idea that there is more than an aesthetic pleasure happening while observing “objects,” there is a biological one as well. Through the mirror neuron system and embodied simulation, it has been discovered that the same emotions, such as pain or pleasure, are realized when one observes a static image (art) rather than by motor skills. This discovery alludes to the direct connection between what we think, what we see, and our actions. The physical complicity between Dorian, the observer, and the Picture, the observed, allows for mental connections, creating an embodied simulation that constructs a mirror between the entities. Through this embodiment, Dorian and the Picture co-evolve into a “cultivated corruption”, after the consumption of young Dorian’s inexperience. Finally becoming codependent on one to the point that without one another, they would not be able to thrive in their given environment. Not to be mistaken be becoming one single character in the adaptation, rather they are intertwined.

Contemporary Developments

Bill Brown’s thing theory is rooted in object-oriented ontologies, where material entities transition from being objects to being things. His stance is elaborated behind the idea that all materials are objects, but not all objects are things. The “thingness” of certain objects converts them into subjects, saving them from the limits of symbolism, allowing them to assign functions for themselves. Additionally, by calling this object, there is a reduction in the hierarchy of relationships, as being called an object reduces the Portrait's individuality. As for the 2009 adaptation, the Picture begins to seize power over Dorian by tempting Dorian to act sinfully, and eventually leads him to murder the one person who discovers their alliance. By allowing the Picture to be the visible corruption of Dorian’s morality, the similarity of both the observer and the observed overlaps. Notably because things can “stare back at you”, their developing presence and power can lead the observer to “attack” the environment around them. Throughout the film, the Picture creates an agency as an under-the-radar antagonist, focusing on its “thingness” to Dorian and leaving his morality in a “grey area”.

• Adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Morality

Dorian Gray completely disregards traditional morality as he places beauty and pleasure over morality. His desires become noticeable in the film with many scenes of Dorian expressing sensual experiences with multiple people. He begins to understand that the portrait will bear his burden, so he becomes indifferent to the feelings and consequences of his choices; this will later cause him significant pain and suffering and therefore lead to his moral decay. As he is obsessed over his beauty and pleasure in which the only thing that matters to him is his feelings and desires, lasting happiness is overturned as seen through his actions, which elaborates more on his moral decay as he prioritizes moments of pleasure over lasting happiness. Although Lassagne claims that the adaptation has a morality gripping of love and beauty. She describes this as the love Dorian Gray had for Sibyl, even if it was for a moment Dorian put his vulnerable self in front of Sibyl, even asking for her hand in marriage.

In the opening minutes of the film, the portrait is analyzed for its corruption rather than its fantastical qualities. Instead of admiring the gothic and supernatural qualities of the portrait, the degradation and weakening of moral principles are primarily shown of the influential factors such as desire and greed. The portrait is reflected as a moral perversion for its distortion of truth, as Dorian Gray fails to understand human nature and the real meaning of life, this later reflects on his portrait. Lastly, Lassagne claims the portrait is the center of the narrative for its moral catharsis ending. The ending of when Dorian’s soul is cleansed of the sins and burdens of all his moral judgments, leaving his portrait exactly the way the painter (Basil) had depicted it. A portrait of Dorian Gray’s youthful and attractive self.

Narcissism

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a psychological condition that is characterized by a lack of empathy, desire for admiration, and a penchant for grandiosity. NPD can lead to impairments in both the social and the occupational spheres, and can often accompany comorbidities like psychiatric and substance use disorders. A subset of narcissism, called grandiose narcissism, is particularly prevalent in Dorian Gray. Grandiose narcissism is distinguished by specific character traits, like a sense of superiority, arrogance, and dominance, with people possessing this subset of the disorder appearing charismatic, confident, and assertive.

Though the causes of NPD remain elusive, many schools of thought have popped up over time, with one being from psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut. Kohut theorized that the emergence of pathological narcissism is due to a developmental arrest caused by certain self-object needs not being met. A self-object, according to Kohut, is the developing child and each of the people who give them the ability to maintain self-structure, firmness, a sense of cohesion, and steadiness. As the infant doesn’t recognize themself to be separate from the people who do these tasks for them, tasks that they will do for themselves in the future, the unit is considered a self-object. The needs specified previously being unmet, due to adverse childhood experiences, is theorized to lead to pathological narcissism.

Grandiose narcissism in Dorian Gray is shown throughout the movie in the titular character. Dorian's childhood is shown to be quite traumatic, with an unstable family history and a suboptimal guardian presiding over his adolescence. He is shown to be extremely charismatic, charming the people around him with ease. He also has a desire for himself to be flawlessly beautiful, shown in his pact to remain forever young. He shows a startling lack of empathy when he hears of Sibyl Vane’s death, which was caused by his rejection of their love. Even in his conduct with people he supposedly admires, he shifts the blame ascribed to him, as shown when he blames Henry Wotton for being the way he is. Substance abuse is also clearly shown, as are sexual acts of an extreme nature. It is also important to note that Dorian dies by suicide, deliberate suicide. Taken together, it is a solid portrayal of grandiose narcissism.

External links

• Dorian Gray at IMDb
• Dorian Gray at the TCM Movie Database
• Dorian Gray at Rotten Tomatoes