Dorian Gray is a young British Aristocrat who is the subject of a portrait painted by another Brit, Basil Hallward. The artist is infatuated with the innocence and youth of the subject and feels that while painting the portrait he was guided by supernatural forces. Lord Wotton, who is present at the completion of the painting, comments that Dorian’s youth is wonderful and dwells upon how splendid it would be if the painting grew old instead of Dorian himself. Dorian, entranced by this notion, wishes in the presence of an ancient Egyptian idol that in exchange for his soul he would never grow old. His wish is granted (cue lighting and dramatic music).
Dorian falls in love with a wonderful singer, Sibyl Vane, and the two are soon to be married. He breaks of the engagement, but looking at his painting he notices sinister lines in his face have appeared and decides to reconcile with her. Before he has a chance though, Lord Wotton arrives and informs Dorian of her suicide. The next day Dorian is emotionless and continues on like this for the next eighteen years. The only thing that ages is his portrait. Eighteen years later we see much evidence of the pain Dorian has caused people and rumors persist about the sorts of terrible things that he has done. Dorian kills Basil Hallward, the man who painted his portrait and Hallward’s niece, who now is the same age as Dorian appears to be, falls in love with him and they are to be married.
The brother of Dorian’s first love, Sibyl Vane, has been searching for Dorian ever since his sister’s death and attempts to kill him. The brother is killed in a hunting accident. Dorian resolves that he can no longer go on hurting people like he does and stabs the his portrait in the heart with the same knife he killed it’s painter with. This in turn kills Dorian. His body is discovered moments later.
I don’t get the sense that the piece was created with a message. I think that it was a very interesting idea for a novel and a film but I don’t know if it was written with the original or sole intent of pushing a life lesson. If there was to be a life lesson I did get the idea that one only has one life to live and should keep a healthy soul while living it. As well, the idea that one is the sum of what they have done and should enjoy each of life’s stages equally from birth, to youth and to death.
The final scene where Dorian stabs the painting and kills himself I found particularly interesting. In seemingly every other scene in which the painting was displayed a color shot of the portrait was shown. I’m not sure why a color shot was omitted this time. In this scene Dorian no longer speaks in the clever way he and his fellow Englishmen spoke throughout the film. He is reduced to a ranting lunatic, discussing wild plans of moving to another country to start anew. He held the notion that he could somehow change his portrait (soul) for the better and erase the blood from his soul. When Dorian stabs the painting it seems to me that he hoped he was killing the memories of what he had done. But the portrait was not a scrapbook, it was his soul. And as to the message, this adds to the idea that you are what you have done and you can’t erase the past. Dorian tried to erase his wrongdoings, but he finally paid for them.
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