The story of Dorian Grey is very compelling, Oscar Wilde was able to capture using magic realism something important about the brokenness of our condition. The film I think was carried along more by the force of the story then it's cinematic quality. The movie was quite clumsy in showing Dorian's debased embracing of hedonism, lots of skin and some gore. I thought a subtler and wider exploration of Dorian's descent into evil would have conveyed the original story more effectively. (Imagine something like
The Last Supper meets
Remains of the Day!) Amy and I enjoyed watching it together because we like the story and the film brings out the main elements of the original but weren't entirely satisfied. I was struck by the closing scene. In the empty mansion, Henry bitterly views the now intact and youthful portrait of Dorian Grey. You can imagine the portrait sitting in Henry's attic, a permeant reminder to Henry and his family, a sort of psychic scar of the way evil, although now destroyed, had consumed Dorian.
