Dorian Gray

2009

Dorian Gray

Critics Consensus

Despite a lavish and polished production, Dorian Gray is tame and uninspired with a lifeless performance by Ben Barnes in the title role.

44%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 39

39%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 45,519

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Dorian Gray Photos

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Movie Info

Dorian Gray is very handsome -- and very cursed. Young Dorian arrives fresh on the London social scene and is taken under the wing of Lord Henry Wotton who introduces him to the seedy pleasures of London life. When Dorian sees how incredible he looks in a newly painted picture of himself, he swears to do whatever it takes to look as young and handsome in real life as he does in the picture -- forever. His stunning good looks and charm soon attract the celebrity lifestyle and everything that it brings. Dorian finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into a world of sin, sex and celebrity, seemingly without any consequences. But as his actions become increasingly evil, for how long can he hide the secret behind his eternal youth?
  • Rating:
    R (for sexual content including nudity, violence and some drug use)
  • Genre:
    Drama, Horror
  • Directed By:
    Oliver Parker
  • Written By:
    Toby Finlay
  • In Theaters:
     wide
  • On Disc/Streaming:
  • Runtime:
  • Studio:
    Alliance Films

Cast

Ben Barnes
as Dorian Gray
Rebecca Hall
as Emily Wooton
Colin Firth
as Lord Henry Wooton
Rachel Hurd-Wood
as Sybil Vane
Ben Chaplin
as Basil Hallward
Douglas Henshall
as Alan Campbell
Fiona Shaw
as Agatha
Emilia Fox
as Lady Victoria Wooten
Caroline Goodall
as Lady Radley
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Critic Reviews for Dorian Gray

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (22)

  • While Wilde's wit remains firmly entrenched, there's also a gruesome vein of gothic horror, and elements of the original which existed in the subtext or were merely hinted at are brought graphically into the open.

    August 24, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    James Berardinelli

    ReelViews
    Top Critic

  • Teenagers will love this film. They will love it because there are lots of close-ups of Barnes being done unto or doing unto others. As a vehicle for a rising and undeniably talented star, it hits the spot.

    September 11, 2009 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
    London Evening Standard
    Top Critic

  • These are interesting ideas, but they would work better if there was more decadence on show earlier on to nail Gray's corruption.

    September 11, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    Dave Calhoun

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • Some neat formal flourishes from its director Oliver Parker and a truly handsome supporting turn from Colin Firth, this story demands a more versatile and charismatic central player than the powerfully blank Ben Barnes.

    September 11, 2009 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

    Kevin Maher

    Times (UK)
    Top Critic

  • It has the style of a Hammer shocker from decades ago; Wilde's romance is caricatured, certainly, but the whole thing is socked over with gusto.

    September 11, 2009 | Full Review…

    Peter Bradshaw

    Guardian
    Top Critic

  • Beyond mildly risqué bisexual assignations, the filmmaking isn't terribly adventurous, but cinematographer Roger Pratt gives it an inky opulence, and it's quite watchable.

    September 11, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    Tim Robey

    Daily Telegraph (UK)
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (39)

Audience Reviews for Dorian Gray

  • Dec 28, 2019
    Handballs it in on just about every important (and engaging) aspect of the actual Portrait of Dorian Gray story.
    Gimly M Super Reviewer
  • Mar 09, 2013
    Stylish and extremely artistic, but Barnes destroyed the titular character, I don't know why he was chosen, he really is not "Magnificent" It's bloody but messy at the same time. Disappointed.
    Sylvester K Super Reviewer
  • Jan 07, 2012
    A British aesthete realizes that a painting of him manifests all the physical evidence of anything he does. I'm trying not to be the snobby literature teacher whom everybody hated in high school or that literature survey class you were forced to take Freshman year, but the distortions that Oscar Wilde's masterpiece was subjected to in this film are almost too much to bear. Avoiding that persona, I'm forced to say that Lord Henry doesn't work as a character if he is bland and evil the way Colin Firth plays him here. The timeline of the film is vastly extended compared to the book, and Sybil's influence is reduced. These latter changes aren't particularly damning, but turning Henry into a leering villain is. Rather than Wilde's tale being about an extreme expression of the aesthete, <i>Dorian Gray</i> suggests that murder and illicit sex are logical extensions of the aesthete's philosophy. Because Wilde considered himself an aesthete, I doubt that he would approve. So it's clear that the film differs from the book, but these differences don't necessarily mean it's a bad film. No, the stolid performances and unevenness of the story make it a bad film. Overall, read the book or -- though I haven't seen it -- the older version, <i>The Picture of Dorian Gray</i>, can't be worse.
    Jim H Super Reviewer
  • Nov 16, 2011
    With music a bit tedious, confusing story, nothing outstanding performances and poor adaptation of the book, this film is worthy of oblivion.
    Rodrigo R Super Reviewer
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