Beauty is always the first criterion to measure a person. Good-looking people always find it easier to get some opportunities. Youth may be every beauty's dream.
Women think so, men think so too.
Director Oliver Parker shifts the focus of the film's narrative from centering on portraits to being more about Dorian Gray in person.
The film is adapted from Oscar Wilde's novel "Portrait of Dorian Gray", which is also Wilde's only novel.
If you count the TV film, it is the 20th film adapted from this novel, and the charm of the novel is even more than that who knows.
When Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) first came to Victoria London, he was a handsome, innocent, and curious young man.
Thus, charismatic local king Henry Wharton (played by Colin Firth) led him to a place where celebrities socialize.
Dowling also blended it in as fast as he could, and he quickly became the city's famous hedonist.
Henry has another friend Basile Howard (played by Ben Chaplin), he is a social artist, he paints a very lively portrait of Dowling.
Daolin's masculine temperament is undoubtedly proven, this portrait is as real as Daolin himself standing in the painting.
When Dowling saw this portrait, she swore:
As long as he can keep his appearance in portraits forever, he is willing to give everything, including his soul.
The person in the portrait seemed to have heard it.
Since then, Dowling's life has gotten more and more indulgent, all day long for fun and crazy adventures.
Her youth and beauty fascinated everyone, but the portrait turned ugly and gruesome.
He locked the portrait in the attic, and no one looked at it again.
Dowling kills Bals who wants to see the portrait and flees here.
Twenty-five years later, Daolin returned to his hometown, his old friends are old, but he still has the face of the perfect past, and he hasn't grown old at all.
But in reality, his heart has withered, he is constantly haunted by his own past, and the monsters in the attic portrait also start to harass and laugh at him.
He often wakes up from nightmares, for fear that someone will know his secret.
He meets Emily (Rebecca Hall). Emily was young and beautiful, smart and wise. Dowling was fascinated by it.
And Emily is Henry's daughter. In order to keep her daughter away from this half-human and half-ghost, Henry decided to see the secret of the portrait.
Henry discovers the secret, and Dowling arrives.
After a fight between the two, Daolin is in the attic. He also started a fight with the devil in the painting. In the end, he drew his sword and stabbed the portrait, killing it with the demon in the portrait.
After Daolin's death, the portrait changes back to the original Daolin, still beautiful and innocent.
If such an opportunity were placed in front of you, what kind of decision would you make?
Selling souls in exchange for ever-young and reckless capital, or just watching time leave its mark.
This temptation is difficult for everyone to refuse, after all, no one wants to grow old and wither, even though this is a law of nature.
But after making a choice, losing himself and being dominated by portraits, life seems unhappy.
Dorian Gray maintains her youth and beauty, but kills her best friend.
Even though she still shocked everyone when she appeared on stage years later, she had never been at the camp 20 years ago or at the camp which is now 20 years old.
Young face, old heart, life without love.
But ah, in this world, there are too many people who are vain.