The 2010 British fantasy-thriller based on Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Ben Chaplin & Rebecca Hall.

The premise revolves around Dorian Gray, a naive young man who arrives in late Victorian London to inherit his abusive grand-father’s estate. Dorian is then quickly swept into a social worldwind by the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton, who introduces Gray to the hedonistic pleasures of the city.

Review: I saw Dorian Gray when it came out, but I didn’t see it out of interest. This time around I chose to see it and it made a difference. There was very little about it that I remembered – which is never good, even for a movie I’ve only seen once – but I was pretty much captivated by the film. 

The debauchery, the corruption, the decors were more impressive that I expected. The movie has a dark, slightly menacing tone all the way through that contrasts very well with Dorian’s youth and innocence, and suits perfectly

his darker side. The relationship between Gray and Wotton was probably one of the most interesting things about the film, it was a mentor-trainee relationship where the mentor first appeared to be a total snake, enticing the impressionable young mind of Dorian Gray, but then the relationship evolves and it gets interesting.

Ben Barnes actually did a good job of portraying the evolution of Dorian Gray from the naive young man to the more adult and narcissistic man. Colin Firth was also brilliant and it was so sweet to see how his character’s actions came to affect him. It really felt like there was some kind of Karma because everyone seemed to have reap what they sow.

Dorian Gray is definitely not a philosophical take on Oscar Wilde’s story but it’s an entertaining one. The second time around I liked the film but I’m interested to know your thoughts on it?