Review of the movie Dorian Gray. Eternity is a fool
Pure in soul and handsome in face and body, the young man Dorian Gray comes to London after the death of his grandfather, inheriting his house and fortune. In London, he falls under the influence of the vicious cynic Lord Henry, who teaches him that life is only worth living for pleasure, and the only values are youth and beauty. The artist friend Basil paints an amazingly accurate and vivid portrait of Dorian - and in a diabolical way the young man's dream of eternal life comes true: time and traces of passions leave their stamp not on him, but on the portrait. In England, by order of the Ministry of Culture, they movieed the most famous novel by Oscar Wilde - with worms, dismemberment and an explosion. The director of the next (among one and a half dozen others) adaptation of Dorian Gray Oliver Parker is more famous as an actor, not as a director, and with his appearance he himself could have played Dorian, if he were younger. The adaptation turned out to be average, like Shakhnazar's "Chamber No. 6" - and just as freely dispensed with the original source while quoting it abundantly and accurately. The whole value of the movie is in the text of Oscar Wilde that sounds in it: the heroes pour out aphorisms, paying tribute to the classics, but a complete work does not work. The narrative mechanically follows from event A to event B, without trying to somehow breathe life into the scenes and make them natural. The scenes are sometimes very short (especially vicious), fragmentary - the director seems to be trying to quickly `` skip '' everyone knows the plot of the novel and drives the events at a gallop. The whole story with the actress Sybil Wayne, for example, in the movie takes about ten minutes. Only in the last quarter does an interesting conflict arise: the aged in spirit, but outwardly young Gray falls in love with the matured daughter of Lord Henry, and he tries to save her. In general, because of ragged pace new 'Dorian Gray' evokes the feeling of a USA movie `` Admiral '' - as if a television series for a dozen episodes was being movieed, which was then clumsily cut and blinded into a full-length version. The main stake is on Ben Barnes - his handsome face, luxurious hair and vicious look should win the hearts of spectators. Barnes tries to play - melodramatically, with anguish - but he is not able to hold the attention of the audience; therefore the focus is now and then shifted to Colin Firth, who performed Lord Henry, or Rebecca Hall (Vicky from Vicky Cristina Barcelona). Barnes' duet with Firth migrated into the picture from the excellent movie Easy Behavior, which the creators of Dorian Gray " obviously inspired. And Rebecca Hall played the daughter of Lord Henry so brightly and talentedly that she unexpectedly turned out to be the most memorable heroine in the movie adaptation. The story of Dorian Gray, "reimagined"; screenwriter, at certain moments it is surprisingly reminiscent of `` climbing '' genius maniac Hannibal Lecter. (By the way, in the role of Gray, the handsome and talented Gaspard Houllier would look great. ) Forgetting about the central theme of the novel - the role of art - moviemakers turned the eternal life of Dorian Gray into a boring pursuit of sensual sensations. He seduces high society ladies, their daughters, goes on to orgies and sadomasochistic joys (which show so scanty that it would be better not). But the great emptiness and meaninglessness of what is happening haunts him (and the audience) throughout the movie. What is an ageless medium - so is immortality. Dorian Gray is depicted in the movie as a fool, frigid with mental and creative joys, and his eternity is a fool. Even if he lived for several centuries, it is unlikely that something would have changed significantly. And the whole boring and ragged Dorian Gray movie, in general, is about the fact that for some people the Maslow pyramid is only two or three stories - and this is innate. If there were no spiritual needs at the beginning, they will not appear at the end - no matter how far from the beginning it may happen. The Topic of Article: Review of the movie Dorian Gray. Eternity is a fool. |
