Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Dorian Gray (2009) Directed by Oliver Parker From the Novel by Oscar Wilde.
 
"You have the only two things worth having: looks and youth." - Lord Henry Wotton
 
Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) is a beautiful young man come down to London in the wake of his Grandfather's unlamented death.  Rich, well bred, and strikingly handsome, he immediately arrests the attention of the London Scene.
 
No two more so than painter Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) and decadent Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth).  Basil, enamored of the boy, paints his picture, while Henry, envious of the lad, sets about his corruption.
 
Rarely has a student so totally followed the wisdom of a mentor as thoroughly as young Dorian Gray.  But he discovers that his casual words about selling his soul for eternal youth and beauty were not empty; a scratch on his hand appears on the painting while his own flesh bears no mark.
 
Hiding away the picture, Dorian falls into an exploration of the senses.  This leads him to form a romantic relationship with an actress Sybil Vane (Rachel Hurd-Wood).  Allowing genuine affection to grow where society says it cannot root, Dorian dooms her to heartbreak, and suicide.
 
Now throwing himself into decadence and vice with the passion of the young and the assets of the rich, he explores every sensation the world has to offer.  And none of it leaves the faintest trace on his angelic features.  But the picture shows his soul, as it is ravaged by absinthe, cigarettes, opium, late nights, hard mornings, and an assortment of venereal diseases.

Years pass.  Dorian spends them abroad, indulging every carnal and cruel whim, until finally, he returns home, jaded, cynical, and just plain exhausted.  There, he horrifies everyone by being...beautiful.  He falls in love with Emily (Rebecca Hall) who just happens to be Henry's daughter.  He is seeking peace, love, redemption, realizing at long last that pleasure and happiness are not the same thing.
Alas, his secret haunts him, and the portrait must be guarded.  And like all secrets, it has a way of finding its way into the light; something Dorian can never allow.
 
Ben Barnes was brilliant as the infant terrible, and Ben Chaplin as his ardent suitor.  Unlike the book, this adaptation does not shy from homosexuality, and their kiss is beautiful, and terrifying in its implications.
 
Many have said that Wilde's story is not horror; I disagree.  It is a scathing commentary on his times when virtues were loudly proclaimed, while vices were secretly indulged.  Discretion was the byword of the upper classes, and hypocrisy an artform.  It was difficult for Wilde to exist in a world where he slept with so many men who in the streets would denounce him as a sodomite.
 
This concept of wearing your sins on your face was very real in the Victorian age where laudanum was the painkiller of choice, and venereal diseases were disfiguring and incurable.  But to see your soul...even today, if given the chance, would you look?
 
This review, like Dorian, is Lean-N-Mean at a sleek 500 words.

I am also entering it in the Around Epinions in 80 Days Write Off as my movie entry, and in Captain D's Good Movie Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age