DORIAN GREY (2009) Blu Ray Review
The Movie
The role of Dorian Gray has to be a tricky one: the story of beautiful youth unsullied by years of debauchery requires an actor who can play both wide-eyed innocence and later exhausted cynicism. Unfortunately for 2009's Dorian Gray, Ben Barnes is not that actor, meeting only the first half of the role but lacking any of the necessary energy to rise to the second half. In fact, Barnes' energy is endemic of most of the problems plaguing the latest screen adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel, which often feels "almost but not quite," lurching forward with the general elements of the story but never feeling specific enough in its world and characters to work.
Co-starring Colin Firth (who is often better than the material and clearly aware of it) as the libertine Henry, and Ben Chaplin as Basil, the enamored painter of the doomed picture, the film was directed by Oliver Parker. Parker is no stranger to Wilde, having directed film adaptations of both An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest a few years back. A dose of the sense of humor and play present in those productions would have been welcome here. Unfortunately, the tone is relentlessly grim and frustratingly stately. For a story about a man who's given himself over to passion, there is decidely a lack of it on screen.
Back to our Dorian: Barnes is game in the early scenes, where Dorian arrives in London an innocent assuming control of his inheritance. With Henry constantly at his ear, Dorian throws himself into a life of debauchery. But both the actor and the character are ill-served by this rather abrupt transition from bumpkin to bad boy and the film lacks any clear signifier of how the character has changed through the performance. I suppose it's something behind the eyes and the delivery but it never feels like Barnes embaces this part of the role, leaving Dorian the libertine feeling slight - and worse - neutered.
Colin Firth, who collaborated with Parker on An Ideal Husband rises above the material as Henry, whose dialog often feels as though it's been taken directly from the page. As a result, his scenes in the first two thirds of the movie have his character feeling like a devil whispering in young Dorian's ear. It's all the more disappointing when we return to his character 25 years later and he's a shadow of his former self. Although some of his action are motivated by the necessities of the plot, they never feel in line with the character we saw earlier in the film.
Again, so much of Dorian Gray feels like a series of half-measures (or less) that never really rise to the material.
Video
The video is a very clean 1080p, with rich darks and strong colors throughout. My complaints with the film
itself notwithstanding, this is a great-looking release that doesn't skimp on the detail. The predominant color scheme are the warm browns and simulated natural light of interiors contrasted with inky black, appropriate to the period setting. The palatte is warm and appealing, and comes through quite well in the transfer.
Sound
The sound is offered in both DTS HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby, but I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not much of
an audiphile. I can report that there's a healthy amount of audio data being transmitted, with discrete levels
of sound that are easy enough for even my neophyte ears to pick up.
Features
Surprisingly, this release comes packed with extras:
A copy of this film was provided by its distrubtor.
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