Dorian Gray (2009)

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

Director:

Oliver Parker

Writers:

Toby Finlay, Oscar Wilde (novel)

Stars:

Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Barnes	...	Dorian Gray
John Hollingworth	...	Patrol Policeman
Cato Sandford	...	Rent Boy
Pip Torrens	...	Victor
Fiona Shaw	...	Agatha
Ben Chaplin	...	Basil Hallward
Caroline Goodall	...	Lady Radley
Maryam d'Abo	...	Gladys
Michael Culkin	...	Lord Radley
Colin Firth	...	Lord Henry Wotton
Emilia Fox	...	Lady Victoria Wotton
Nathan Rosen	...	Young Dorian
Jeff Lipman	...	Lord Kelso (as Jeffrey Lipman Snr)
Louise Kempton	...	Prostitute
Douglas Henshall	...	Alan Campbell

Storyline

A naïve young man. A lovelorn artist. A corruptible Lord. A deal with the Devil. It all paints a dark picture of a Victorian London and how the rich and infamous party at their peril. Here, the telling of time and its consequence of experience for life's treasures' takes its toll on the body, mind and soul. The haunting and bleak tale of power, greed, vanity and inevitable self-destruction is ever present amongst the deceit, opium dens and sin.

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Plot Keywords:

painting | jealousy | orgy | eternal youth | champagne | 

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Taglines:

Forever Young. Forever Cursed.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content including nudity, violence and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Castello Lopes Mulimédia [Portugal]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

El retrato de Dorian Gray

Filming Locations:

Basildon Park, Lower Basildon, Berkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$22,410,097

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ealing Studios, Alliance Films, Fragile Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second film starring Rachel Hurd-Wood (Sybil Vane) that involves an eternally youthful male lead. The first was Peter Pan (2003).

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Goofs

In the opening shot, horse drawn carriages travel along a London street. The film is set in the 1890s but the road is smoothly tarmacked, a surface treatment invented in 1902 and only commercialised some years later.

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Quotes

Lucius: I have the key to your heart.
Dorian Gray: [aggressively] Don't touch that ever!

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits, one of the pieces of music played is listed as Haydn's "Sting Quartet" Op 76 No 4.

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Alternate Versions

During post-production, the film was tailored for a '15' certificate in the UK. According to the BBFC, the filmmaker cuts were as follows:

• A scene in which a tea party is inter-cut with shots showing Dorian's sadomasochistic excesses was toned down to remove or reduce the more explicit moments (explicit sight of a fingernail being pulled off, explicit sight of a chest being cut with a razor in a sexual context, explicit sight of blood being sucked from a woman's breasts and sight of a restrained man being beaten).
• Additionally, a murder scene was toned down to remove the sense of dwelling on the infliction of pain and injury (reduction in the number of stabbings, removal of a blood spurt from man's neck, reduction in sight of victim choking on his blood).

The subsequent version was then formally passed '15' by the BBFC without cuts, and released on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Connections

Version of Take Off (1978)

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Soundtracks

Carnival of Venice
Written by Niccolò Paganini (as Nicolo Paganini)
Solo Violin by Stephanie Gonley

User Reviews

Half cocked

Haven't read the book in years and was very much looking forward to watching this but from the opening shot I knew I was in for a big disappointment. It looked and felt like an episode of a period TV series, even making the first shot a quick flashback to last weeks episode. It felt like a cheap dated effect.

Drab lifeless lighting throughout the film managed to make some beautiful sets and costumes look flat and uninteresting. Surely the warmth of candlelight would give someone in the lighting department a bit of inspiration, a chance to increase the sensual feelings necessary for a lot of the laughable debauchery scenes? Pedestrian, bland, painted by numbers, adequate acting but it all lacked a decent script, an editor who gave a damn and grr maybe a bit of soul? Occasionally it lifted itself up out of the mire (probably scenes from the beginning of the project) only to come crashing down again as everybody got bored and even more disheartened.

I was astonished to find how quickly I got bored watching this which is such a shame as it could have been something so much better.