Where to start? First I'd like to warn you - do NOT let yourself mislead by the rather low rating of the movie, it deserves 8 out of 10 at least. (I really can not imagine what kind of people could rate this one less than 8.)
The acting was just AWESOME! Yes, excellent and awesome. I'd really like to accentuate Colin Firth's portrayal as Lord Henry Wotton. I haven't liked Firth's acting much so far, but this has completely changed my opinion about him as an actor. Henry Wotton, the lord who teaches yet innocent Dorian how to enjoy life in bedding every woman (or man), in drinking, smoking, in being arrogant etc. Yes, Firth has captured that better than any actor would ever have.
The next excellent portrayal is from the main character himself, Dorian Gray. Ben Barnes has showed us his real TALENT, and I wish him a great acting career in future. How he portrayed Dorian was just wondrous. Dorian's changing throughout the movie from the young innocent boy, to the depraved arrogant man and at the end a suffering creature of a man, whose sins come back to him to torture him inside himself. Excellent, you could just see how the character changes, and you could see that clearly only thanks to Ben Barnes's portrayal.
The actors who portrayed the minor characters also did not disappoint, far from it. I'd like to highlight the acting of Ben Chaplin (as Basil Hallward, the painter) and Rebecca Hall (as Emily Wotton, daughter of Lord Henry Wotton).
The sceneries, surroundings, furniture, costumes, manners of the high society people were made EXACTLY to match the touch of 19th century, when the story takes place in.
It's evident from the beginning that the director Oliver Parker, producers, costume designers, music department...foreshorten, the whole crew did their job perfectly and definitely DID NOT huddle the job through.
As for the music, there is always a touch of mystery tones, every time the portrait is mentioned, that makes your skin goose flesh.
A masterpiece of a movie and of an adaptation (as sometimes it happen, we are not pleased by the adaptations of our favorite books), but this is definitely NOT the case.
I highly recommend to watch it and have rated it highly with 10 out of 10, because the movie deserves this rating.
Like my review or not, I can say for myself, I LOVED this movie.
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