The Sins of Dorian Gray

TV Movie
1983
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

205

YOUR RATING

Drama Horror

A young woman sells her soul for eternal youth and beauty, while her screen test grows elderly and depraved to behold.A young woman sells her soul for eternal youth and beauty, while her screen test grows elderly and depraved to behold.A young woman sells her soul for eternal youth and beauty, while her screen test grows elderly and depraved to behold.

See production, box office & company info

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

205

YOUR RATING

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Trivia
The novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" explores the fantasy of invincible vice only to discover that, while justice can be dodged, there is no escape from conscience. Written in 1890, the homosexual undertones of the novel were used as evidence in the criminal-libel suit of Wilde vs the Marquess of Queensberry in 1895, who accused the writer of homosexual promiscuity with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency, and sentenced to two years hard labor - from which he never recovered. He died in poverty and disgrace in 1900. Like his tragic hero, Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tried to conceal something about himself in art, and in the end was betrayed by art.

Connections
References The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

Soundtracks
The Sins of Dorian Gray
Written by Bernard Hoffer and Jules Bass
Performed by Lisa Dalbello (as Lisa Dal Bello)

User reviews7

Review

Featured review

4/10

In this television adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel, beautiful but marred Dorian Gray is a ... woman!

I Know. Oscar Wilde did not deserve this but here are some clues that may help us in judging this film more nicely. First of all, I think it was a good idea to make Dorian Gray a woman in the eighties as an aspiring actress-turned-to-be top model. Did you know that for the 1945 Lewin's version, Greta Garbo wanted the leading role dearly? Secondly, it is not so ridiculous to use a "film" instead of a picture or a "portrait". We have to remember that here we are in Los Angeles at the moment when the VHS exploded. This adaptation only reflects the epoch in which it was made. Could you imagine a girl snubbing a movie role for a modeling career instead nowadays? Finally, I liked the song. It summarizes the real story, it is seductive and tries to tell us the causes and consequences of the sins Dorian supposedly committed (but which of course we don't see). Unhappily, these elements alone do not make a good adaptation. I would have started by a better written script and a better casting. Anthony Perkins as Henry Lord (instead of Lord Henry Wotton, not so clever after all) is really alone in this one.

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