All Because of a Stupid Picture

I watched the recent, 2009, movie version of Dorian Gray. The movie was really good - with actors like Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, and Ben Chaplin. Dorian (Ben Barnes) comes to London and meets Basil (Ben Chaplin), a painter, and than Colin Firth's character, Lord Henry, was basically the devil. Lord Henry decides to take young Dorian under his wing and teach him the type of lifestyle he wished he could lead - all pleasure. Basil paints a stunning portrait of Dorian and in a discussion on living forever - Dorian says he would choose that. He eventually discovers what has happened and begins guarding his painting as if it were the most precious thing on the face of the earth. The portrait takes on the scars, disease, and corruption of his character; becoming more and more disgusting by the day. He leaves to explore and when he finally returns home, he decides that he wants to start living life correctly. Lord Henry becomes quite put off when some of Dorian's bad habits begin to affect him and he begins to piece together parts of the puzzle.


I really like this movie overall. It was a little awkward to see "Prince Caspian" , as I know Ben Barnes, screwing just about everything that moved. There were some other rather graphic scenes as well that were quite disturbing. It was a really well done movie - with some great, if not disturbing, imagery. I was a little confused by the idea of Dorian Gray being a character by an aesthete - Oscar Wilde. Art is beauty for the sake of beauty in the world and no "moral to the story" works were considered. This is interesting since Dorian is beauty for beauty's sake and yet his life of pleasure makes and ugly "soul"/portrait. I saw a larger than life moral to the story with the life of Dorian Gray. His body and charm and lifestyle might seem beautiful, but his soul and mind are degenerated to a state of putrescence. I might actually have to get the book out and see how similar the movie is to the story before I pass too much judgement.