Who's a pretty boy then?
Director: Oliver Parker Starring: Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin, Fiona Shaw, Emilia Fox, Maryam d'Abo, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Caroline Goodall, Daniel Newman, Douglas Henshall, David Sterne, Johnny Harris, Michael Culkin, Jo Woodcock, Pip Torrens, Hugh Ross Cert: 15 Region: B Length: 112mins Video: VC-1, 1080p, 1.85:1 Audio: DTS-HD 5.1 MA Languages: English, English AD Subtitles: English
Given that it deals with themes of corruption, sexual desire and the fight to retain one's youthful appearance, you could say Oscar Wilde's story The Picture of Dorian Gray was itself lurking in an attic somewhere waiting to be seen in a new light by the botox generation (if anything you see worse stuff in tabloids these days compared to the antics Dorian Gray got up to). There have been movie versions made before of course - Hurd Hatfield played Dorian in 1945 while Stuart Townsend briefly took up the mantle in 2003 for big budget superhero folly The League of Extraordinary Gentleman - but this new adaptation by first-time writer Toby Finlay promises to delve deeper into the character than ever before.
After a quick flash-forward to see a blood-stained Dorian dumping some poor bugger's body in the Thames, the film begins afresh one year previously with the naive young Dorian arriving in London to take over his uncle's fancypants estate. He's immediately taken under the wing of Lord Henry Wotton (Firth), a cynical socialite who advises Dorian to indulge every temptation and live life to the fullest. While Wotton gives his protege' tours of the local whorehouses and drinking holes, artist Basil Hallward (Chaplin) decides to paint a portrait of his friend. Growing more corrupt by the day, Dorian makes a pledge to give away his soul in return for eternal youth. He realises he's got his wish when the portrait starts to age and distort while his minor bodily imperfections mysteriously vanish, causing him to hide the picture away in the attic lest anyone find out his secret.
Meanwhile his relationship with young actress Sibil Vane (Hurd-Wood) is destroyed by his newfound greed and, alone once more, he gives in to debauchery and excess, sleeping with anyone and everyone, much to mentor Wotton's amusement. Inevitably what must go up must come down; Sibil's brother James comes around looking for retribution for his heartbroken sister while Basil insists on borrowing Dorian's portrait to use in a show. Unsurprisingly neither confrontation ends with a hug and a handshake as Dorian will protect his interests at any cost. Yet gradually he understands the error of his ways and spends many years travelling the globe (off screen). Upon his return he falls for Wotton's now grown up daughter Emily (Rebecca Hall) and tries desperately to redeem himself before it's too late...
You may not expect the man who gave us St Trinian's and its abysmal Sarah Harding-infested sequel to be the right director for such a gothic slice of horror but Oliver Parker gets the balance just right. Dark the subject requires and dark the film is, tonally and visually. Elsewhere Barnes is excellent in playing both the open-mouthed simpleton who arrives in London and the murderous fop that Gray ultimately becomes. It's not an easy part to pull off and it proves (ironically) that Barnes isn't just a pretty face after all. His co-star Colin Forth, who previously worked with Parker on The Importance of Being Ernest, also takes great relish in the kind of grumpy role that's served him so well from Pride & Prejudice onwards (we're not sure about the Ken Branagh-Wild Wild West beard though). Ben Chaplin and Rebecca Hall provide solid support but Hurd-Wood, again playing a naive object of desire fought over by the menfolk, is in serious danger of typecasting - charming though she is.
