In 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote "The Picture of Dorian Gray", a beautiful young man who surrendered his soul to the devil in order to preserve his youth and beauty forever. The strange thing is that the portrait the painter made for him has been eroded by the gradually filthy soul and the years, but the appearance of the boy is always perfect, and he is no longer the timid and gentle boy who first came to London. His heart was destroyed, and he indulged in the youth and beauty in his hands, and his morals were completely thrown out of the sky, and his heart had fallen.
"What is your secret?"
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
Dorian Gray, a shy and unworldly teenager who first came to London, got to know Lord Henry and the painter Buzz It was an important turning point in his life. The painter painted the handsome boy in his eyes with admiration, but Henry continued to use his own philosophy of life to teach that Dao Lien should understand the pleasures of life. After learning that he held a wealth that many people envied - youth and beauty, Dorian made an evil wish, willing to sell his soul for eternal youth and beauty. He stumbles upon a secret that he can't erode over time, and commits more sins to keep it.
This unspeakable "secret" was something that Dorian himself did not dare to face. Accidentally, he gained eternal youth, which for him seemed to be able to stand above others and overlook all beings. So he enjoys himself, and alcohol, lust, and opium, not even years, will erode his face. It is the desperate pursuit of youth and beauty that makes him lose himself in pleasure. Dorian is actually very sad. In the film he once had this monologue:
I can assure you, pleasure is very different from happiness. (Believe me, pleasure is very different from happiness.)
The first free will was indeed a new and indescribable joy for him, at least it gave him a thrill he had never had before. Twenty-five years of unrestrained enjoyment is not as attractive as it seems. Because he sees the constant change of the portrait, because he is condemned and questioned by his surviving conscience, because he is haunted by past memories, because he has nightmares, because he feels being hunted. Such twenty-five years are not living like years.
The metaphorical meaning of the portrait is very obvious. In the face of his ageing and decaying portrait, Dorian was confronted with an increasingly uglier soul. This is indeed a very terrifying thing, and it is no wonder that Dorian in the novel can not bear it and destroys the portrait with a knife, and who knows he also destroys himself. In contrast, Dorian Gray in the film begins to wake up and repent after constant nightmares, and his final self-destruction is his sober choice.
Remaking a movie based on a novel that has become a classic has always been extremely challenging. This novel, which was highly controversial when it was published, is not the first time it has been brought to the screen. And this time "Dorian Gray" didn't disappoint, I think it captures the heart of the original book, and the excellent performances of actors Ben Barnes and Colin Firth add a lot to the film. In particular, Colin Firth showed the appearance of Lord Henry incisively and vividly with his usual British gentleman style, which was admirable.
The whole film has the original gloomy atmosphere of the novel, but compared with the novel, the film has made some changes. The actress Sibyl Vane, whom Dorian first fell in love with, and Henry's daughter Emily, whom Dorian fell in love with twenty-five years later, are both characters not found in the novel. As mentioned earlier, the final film is also different from the ending in which Dorian couldn't bear to face his rotten soul and wanted to destroy the portrait and he died. But this change, at least in my opinion, is not superfluous. Dorian's two true loves slow down the pace of the film and dilute the strong sense of guilt and gloom in the original book. The final ending of the movie is less sharp than that of the novel. At least it can be said that Dorian is beginning to repent for everything he has done, which at least proves that he has not completely lost his conscience.
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